Page 2 - Baez Case News Today

Going forward. now, we recognize that cameras are not the be all, and we recognize that cameras are not the panacea. theyre just one part of a plan for progressive change in the city of new york as it relates to aggressive policing in the city of new york. im also calling upon the governor of the state of new york, governor cuomo, to appoint a special prosecutor in cases of egregious police misconduct. so there is an independent prosecutor. local prosecutors rely on the police department for the...

Officer, quote, insisted that he tried to disengage as quickly as he could. well, heres what the video shows. >> i cant breathe. i cant breathe. i cant breathe. i cant breathe. >> once again, police beating up on people. >> back up and get on the steps. >> this case has become a rallying cry across the country, especially here in new york where protesters under way. theres videotape showing what happened. here is what this comes down to. i believe the system needs to be fixed. from the beginning...

Theres been only peaceful protest. the only reason theres national upset and concern and worry about what the response might be if a decision was made that nobody should be charged in this death, the reason in this case that theres been a cause for national concern is because of this video. its not because people have behaved badly in their anger over what happened to eric garner, its because of this video which shows what happened. which is very hard at a laymens level to square with the idea t...

>> you could speak. >> so what are they suggesting? i can only breathe 10%? >> frankly, i think if you have somebody in that situation and he says i cant breathe, police should be rendering first aid, cpr, and calling ems for a quick response. >> now mark claxton, i also see the report saying that he disengaged as quickly as he can. what we see on the video, they are sitting on top of him, pressing him down to the ground. you were a police officer for many years here in new york. is that an imme...

Biased against mr. baez because of his sexual orientation or religion or gender, then thats a federal crime. if its just an ordinary oid, its not a federal crime. and the issue there is, again, if its a federal civil rights claim, theres got to be purposeful intent. negligence or recklessness would be good enough for a homicide in a state case but not for a federal case. so its a much higher bar. >> in this case, the officer who put what appears to be in choke hold on mr. garner before he died, ...

Opposite side over there because i was on the sidewalk. the officer came around behind him and brought him back look this, taking him down. >> its almost eerie, 18 years later were seeing this same kind of thing. what did you do to break through this blue wall and to get a federal indictment? >> well, immediately after the non -- the acquittal of officer lavodi, and remember the judge in that case was judge judys husband, judge sheinlin. had an indictment. it went to trial. a nonjury trial. but ...

Councilman zach reed and legal analyst veteran prosecutor paul henderson. thank you both for being here tonight. >> thanks for having us, reverend. >> councilman, what do you make of what were learning about this officer today? >> well, a lot of things were dropped. clearly we did not do our homework on this officer. clearly if we had done our homework on this officer, we would not have hired this officer. goes back to what malcom x said. you have good cops, bad cops and cops that dont deserve t...

Explanation when you can look at that kind of egregious behavior taking place in broad daylight on the streets of this city by the people who are supposed to protect and serve, people deserve an explanation because that video, and weve had cases before where weve had video evidence, look at rodney king. weve had other cases. but in that case there was at least an indictment. and rodney king lived. eric garner is dead. >> and what you just said about those witnesses. what did those witnesses say?...

20 years ago in 1994. a young man named anthony baez. he was killed in the bronx by a police officer who choked him after a football he was playing with bounced off the officers patrol car. in that case, a grand jury did decide that the officer should be put on trial for killing anthony baez by choking him to death. but at trial that officer was acquitted. then that same officer was brought up on charges again in federal court. and in federal court the officer was convicted and sentenced to seve...

Died in that june -- that july day. unlike some of the other protest, it hasnt been raucous here. it hasnt been overly angry, but theres a feeling that theres a weight and hopelessness. folks who had not necessarily expected there would be an indictment but there was always hope that there would be an indictment. i spoke to a young man named aaron who looked me in the eye and said, where do we go from here? what can we do? even when its on video and an officer is seen choking a man, we cant get ...