Depraved Indifference Not Just From Rioters

The timing of Brooklyn Congressman Hakeem Jeffries’ call for Federal legislation outlawing the use of chokeholds by cops during an April 27 press conference outside Police Headquarters had a distinctly political air to it. Nearly 10 months had elapsed since the death of Eric Garner during a struggle with police on Staten Island in which Officer Daniel Pantaleo applied what appeared to be an NYPD-banned chokehold that was a contributing factor. And nearly five months had elapsed since a Staten Island grand jury decided not to indict Mr. Pantaleo on criminal charges. So why pick now to make this proposal?

The logical answer was that yet another case of an unarmed black man dying in a confrontation with police was searing itself into the national consciousness in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray April 19 after he suffered severe spinal injuries, with an investigation going on as to whether Baltimore cops caused those injuries while subduing him as he moaned in agony before dragging him into a van in handcuffs, rather than summoning an ambulance, or whether they occurred after they decided to transport him in the back of a police van without a seatbelt. (On May 1, the cops were indicted.)