The Other Grand Jury

Surely they won't be making the same mistake.

New York officials are preparing for likely protests as a grand jury decides whether to charge police in the death of a black man subjected to a banned choke hold, although they are aiming to avoid the kind of violence that engulfed Ferguson, Missouri last month after the grand jury decision in the Michael Brown case.

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It is not clear when the grand jury will rule.

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'We're just praying and hoping that things don't get out of hand,' said Bobby Digi, a Staten Island activist and businessman. 'We've been doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work to just try to get temperaments at bay.'

  alJazeera

I think this is going to take more than praying and hoping.

Hazel Dukes, president of the New York state chapter of the NAACP civil rights group, said she was 'very worried' about the possible response if no charges are brought by the Staten Island grand jury, which has been meeting in secret since August.

Yes, I imagine that would just about blow the roof. As well it should.

Garner suffered a heart attack after officers compressed his neck and chest as they restrained him for selling loose cigarettes, the medical examiner ruled, calling his death a homicide.

A 400-pound asthmatic Staten Island dad died Thursday after a cop put him in a chokehold and other officers appeared to slam his head against the sidewalk, video of the incident shows.

“I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!” Eric Garner, 43, repeatedly screamed after at least five NYPD officers took him down in front of a Tompkinsville beauty supply store when he balked at being handcuffed.

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Police officials said Garner had a history of arrests for selling untaxed cigarettes. Cops said they observed him selling his wares Thursday on Bay St. and moved in for an arrest.

  NY Daily News

And went for the kill.

A law enforcement source said the incident was troubling.

“A guy is dead in our custody. That is always a potential problem,” the source said.

I sure hate it when the law is troubled with a potential problem.

And, perhaps they want to rethink this as well.

Investigators are considering whether to charge Michael Brown's stepfather with attempting to incite a riot for urging a crowd in Ferguson, Missouri, to "burn this bitch down" as part of a larger inquiry into violence after a grand jury declined to indict a white police officer in the shooting death of the unarmed black teenager, authorities told NBC News on Tuesday.

  NBC News

Bob McCullough - the same prosecutor who called the Wilson Grand Jury - will decide whether to charge him.