A new nonfiction book detailing the life and death of Eric Garner on Staten Island hit the digital shelves Tuesday.
Authored by journalist Matt Taibbi, “I Can’t Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street,” takes an investigative lens to a case that captured the attention of the city and the nation three years ago.
“I can’t breathe” were Garner’s last words before he fell unconscious after being placed in an illegal chokehold by NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo. Garner’s death was ruled a homicide by the city’s medical examiner, who cited the chokehold as a contributing factor.
Captured on video by witness Ramsey Orta, the incident sparked nationwide protests and discussions about police brutality and justice after a jury failed to indict Pantaleo. Garner’s last words resounded in Black Lives Matter protests across the country.
“I Can’t Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street,” details the police investigation that followed, the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, mass incarceration tactics and racial disparities that exist in the criminal justice system.
The book “liberates Eric Garner from the abstractions of newspaper accounts and lets us see the man in full—with all his flaws and contradictions intact,” according to its publisher, Penguin Random House.
The investigation into Garner’s case is still ongoing. Pantaleo’s conduct in the July 17, 2014, incident over the sale of loose cigarettes was determined improper by the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which recommended in September that the NYPD move forward with departmental charges that could lead to dismissal or suspension if he’s found guilty, Taibbi reported for Rolling Stone. The police department, however, will not move forward with a trial until the Department of Justice is finished with its civil rights investigation.
Some steps have been taken to hold police officers more accountable since Garner’s death. Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order in July 2015 that enabled the state attorney general to take over any case in which a law enforcement officer kills an unarmed civilian. The NYPD rolled out a body camera pilot program, which aims to increase police officers’ accountability. The department also introduced a body camera procedure in April, which requires camera activation, retention of footage for a year, and the release of footage to prosecutors, public litigation and the public, according to an NYPD statement.
Orta’s cellphone recording of Garner’s death, however, hasn’t proven enough to determine whether or not his civil rights were violated, according to Rev. Al Sharpton.
“The bad news is we were not told they are going to move forward and be prosecuted,” he said after attending a Justice Department meeting at the Brooklyn Marriott in June 2017. “The good news is they said this case is alive and it is not closed.”
Taibbi’s account of the story so far has been called “a tragically revealing look at a broken criminal justice system geared to serve white citizens while often overlooking or ignoring the rights of others” by Kirkus reviews.
This is not the first time the National Magazine Award-winner has delved into and deeply criticized the nation’s justice system. Taibbi has repeatedly exposed Wall Street’s financial crimes both in articles for Rolling Stone and a book he released in April 2014.
A New York Times Bestseller, “The Divide” highlights the wealth gap in America and criticizes the mass incarceration of the poor. A Los Angeles Times review called it “advocacy journalism at its finest.”
Taibbi has also frequently written about gun control, and mocked President Donald Trump’s administration in several satirical pieces for Rolling Stone magazine, including in Insane Clown President: Dispatches from the 2016 Circus released in January.
“I Can’t Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street” is now available on Amazon as a hardcover for $19.04 and as a Kindle version for $14.99.
