4 EMT workers suspended in wake of Eric Garner’s death

After the death of Eric Garner, four EMT workers who responded to the scene have now been suspended without pay.

Eric Garner died last Thursday during an arrest after he was put in a choke hold by an officer.

The FDNY said Monday that the four EMT workers have in fact been suspended without pay.

According to CBS:
The Fire Department said the emergency workers are employees of Richmond County Medical Center, the Staten Island hospital where Garner was taken by ambulance and pronounced dead.

Fire Department spokesman James Long said the Fire Department took action against the hospital’s emergency responders because it oversees the city’s 911 system, a patchwork of publicly and privately operated emergency services.

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Eric Garner, 43, told NYPD repeatedly he couldn’t breathe as they tried to arrest him. But within moments Garner, a married father of six children with two grandchildren, stopped struggling and appeared to be unconscious as police called paramedics to the scene. An angry crowd gathered, some recording with their phones.

Witnesses say Eric Garner was doing nothing wrong when he was approached by NYPD. He was standing outside a store and moments before, he had broken up a fight.

But police officials said Garner had a history of arrests for selling untaxed cigarettes. Cops said they observed him selling his wares and moved in for an arrest. The incident, that was partially caught on video camera, shows an upset Garner who exclaimed about the police always targeting him. Then authorities attempt to arrest him.

Officials say Garner was resisting arrest as he was trying to be subdued. But the way in which he was subdued is now causing outrage within family, friends, witnesses, and community activists. Captured video shows Garner is put in an illegal chokehold during the arrest.

Some residents who witnessed the arrest attempt, along with community leaders, said the incident was an example of police brutality and racism toward a victim who was Black. They called for strong action by the mayor and police officials.

Source : CBS