Daughter of Eric Garner berates officials for waiting to show Tire Nichols arrest video
Eric Garner’s daughter denounced Memphis officials for releasing the video of Tire Nichols’ arrest and beating “like a movie premiere,” likening it to a public lynching.
The series of videos was released on Friday and revealed how the 29-year-old was tased on January 7, sprayed with pepper spray and savagely beaten before dying.
Emerald Snipes-Garner said she was furious that it took so long for the videos to be released, likening the situation to her father’s death in 2014 when he was strangled by New York police while saying repeatedly, “I can don’t breathe.’
Emerald told NewsNation that if her father got justice quickly, Nichols would still be alive.
It comes as nationwide sentencing has fallen on the officers who arrested Nichols, with Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. which issued a new internal inquiry after suspending two deputies who waited while Nichols was left writhing in pain.
Emerald Snipes-Garner (pictured) condemned Memphis officials’ decision to wait nearly three weeks to release footage of Tire Nichols’ arrest
She compared the situation to the death of her father, Eric Garner, in 2014, who suffocated and died under police custody, saying, “I can’t breathe.”
Speaking to NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo, Emerald questioned why it took nearly three weeks to release the horrific footage.
“It had to be controlled by the system,” she said of the tapes. “Like, ‘we’ll just hold it and then we’re going to bring it out with the indictment.’
“No, you held it like it was a premiere of a movie that needed to be seen by the whole world. A public lynching.”
She eventually said what happened to Nichols was a “replay” of her father’s death.
Garner was arrested in July 2014 for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes in the NYPD precinct of Staten Island.
Officers, including Daniel Pantaleo, wrestled Garner against a glass display window, with Pantaleo placing his arm around Garner’s neck as other officers pinned him to the ground.
Bystander video showed Garner gasping repeatedly before dying.
After Garner’s death in July 2014, a Richmond County grand jury made the decision not to indict Pantaleo, and he remained on the force, behind a desk, until 2019, when he was finally fired.
In 2021, the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court upheld the decision to fire Pantaleo, ruling that he had acted “recklessly” by holding Garber in a prohibited chokehold for 9 to 10 seconds.
Emerald noted that the trial took years and that Pantaleo was never convicted of Garner’s death, saying, “It’s always been that way for me, it’s a slap in the face.” There was no justice.’
“If we had that in 2014, would there have been a Tire Nichols by now? I do not think so.
“And the fact that we waited for this video to be released like it was an exclusive movie that was supposed to premiere on a certain day really makes my blood boil,” she told Cuomo.
Emerald claimed that if Garner had done justice, Tire Nichols would still be alive today
Daniel Pantaleo (pictured), the NYPD officer responsible for strangling Garner, was never charged in the incident and remained on the force until he was fired in 2019
In addition to Emerald’s criticism, conservative commentator Candace Owens also criticized the video’s treatment.
“It seems intentional that the media build days of suspense prior to the bodycam’s release by comparing him to Rodney King,” Owens wrote on Twitter, referring to the 1993 tape that shows the Los Angeles Police Department on King brutally smashed.
The infamous video sparked massive protests across the country, including violent riots and clashes with police.
“They encourage riots,” claimed. “They could have already released the footage, but they wanted to build maximum tension.”
Nichols died in hospital after being tased, kicked and punched in the head, struck three times with a metal baton and sprayed with pepper spray in the face twice
Conservative commentator Candace Owens also denounced the media’s treatment of the video as an alleged spectacle
Like videos of Garner and King, the Nichols arrest video has sparked public outcry and protests, sometimes violent, across the country.
A protester was spotted hurling fireworks at an LAPD cruiser during a massive march in the city.
Meanwhile, in New York City, a man was photographed standing atop a broken windshield of a police car.
A protester was seen standing over a clearly shattered windshield of a New York City police car
Officers quickly dragged him down and arrested him. At least three have been taken into custody in the Big Apple as part of the protests, according to NBC New York.
Another was over a police car with a tattered American flag. Antifa has issued a call for protesters to light up New York City on Friday night.
In Memphis, protesters chanted, “Say his name! Tire Nichols!’ and several dozen protesters blocked a heavily traveled bridge on Interstate 55, one of the two main spans connecting Arkansas and Tennessee across the Mississippi River.
Police officers take into custody a smiling protester, who smashed the window of a police car, during the protest against the police assault on Tire Nichols in Times Square in New York, United States on January 27, 2023
A protester was seen hurling fireworks at an LAPD cruiser during a huge march in the city
In Memphis, protesters chanted, “Say his name! Tire Nichols!’ and several dozen protesters blocked a heavily traveled bridge on Interstate 55, one of the two main spans connecting Arkansas and Tennessee across the Mississippi River.
Unions in California and Hawaii issued a joint statement calling the officers’ actions “abhorrent and completely contrary to how honorable law enforcement officers behave.”
The Prosecutors Alliance of California called the killing senseless and in Sacramento, California’s capital city, Mayor Darrell Steinberg said, “I am filled with rage, sorrow and disgust.”
Businesses in several cities have been boarded up pending the release of the shocking footage
Workers are seen boarding up buildings in anticipation of expected protests
Federal workers in Memphis and Portland had been told to go home early, and workers have started boarding up buildings.
The mayor of New York City on Friday night urged protesters to remain peaceful, and the NYPD has made extensive preparations, including asking officers to stay on and work overtime when their shift ends on Friday.
While federal buildings were evacuated, businesses in Memphis and Portland boarded to protect themselves from the expected looting.