this issue has been-- was localized to those communities. that is no longer the case. >> reporter: for adams, who is also a former nypd captain with 22 years on the force, this video has moved the needle. >> it caused a tipping point that people were able to hear verbally what was going wrong. they were able to visually see it, and they were able to identify that a man, a man's life was taken for doing a minor offense. that cannot happen in america. >> i think it's upsetting and troubling to anybody that saw it. >> reporter: conservative commentator pete wehner, who worked for the last three republican presidents, has the same take on the fallout from the garner grand jury. the brother of a police officer, wehner supported the cops in ferguson but not those in the chokehold death and says he's not alone. >> i think in a sense, ferguson was more polarized. i think people were in their thaditional camps, making traditional arguments. i think this case in staten