From Ferguson to New York City: The Public Responds to Police-Involved Deaths

With their heads tilted downwards, the family members of black men who recently died at the hands of police—Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Akai Gurley—linked arms and closed their eyes in prayer.
From Ferguson to New York City: The Public Responds to Police-Involved Deaths
Rev. Al Sharpton leads a prayer with the family members of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Akai Gurley, black men who died during encounters with police, in Harlem, on Nov. 26, 2014. Petr Svab/Epoch Times
Annie Wu
Updated:

NEW YORK—With their heads tilted downwards, the family members of black men who recently died at the hands of police—Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Akai Gurley—linked arms and closed their eyes in prayer.

“Tomorrow, as they sit across their tables in different cities and look at empty seats, know that that emptiness reflects our failure as a society,” the Rev. Al Sharpton said on Wednesday afternoon, at a press conference held at his civil rights organization’s headquarters in Harlem.

Article Quote: From Ferguson to New York City: The Public Responds to Police-Involved Deaths

The parents of Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager who was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., arrived in New York City two days after a grand jury in St. Louis County announced that it would not indict the officer responsible for Brown’s death. Sharpton’s organization, the National Action Network, is working with Brown’s family and the others. 

In July, Garner died in Staten Island after a police officer used a chokehold while arresting him for selling untaxed cigarettes. Garner, who suffers from asthma and hypertension, was caught on a bystander’s recorded video shouting “I can’t breathe” several times, as a group of police officers brought him to the ground.

Last week Gurley died from a gunshot to the chest when a police officer patrolling the stairwell of a Brooklyn public housing project accidentally discharged his weapon, according to police.

Lesley McSpadden (2R), mother of Michael Brown, prays with other families and Al Sharpton (L), at the National Action Network headquarters in New York, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2014. On the day before Thanksgiving, Sharpton brought together the families of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Akai Gurley, all black men recently killed by police officers. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Lesley McSpadden (2R), mother of Michael Brown, prays with other families and Al Sharpton (L), at the National Action Network headquarters in New York, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2014. On the day before Thanksgiving, Sharpton brought together the families of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Akai Gurley, all black men recently killed by police officers. AP Photo/Seth Wenig
Annie Wu
Annie Wu
Author
Annie Wu joined the full-time staff at the Epoch Times in July 2014. That year, she won a first-place award from the New York Press Association for best spot news coverage. She is a graduate of Barnard College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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