NEW YORK—Tensions flared in New York City on Wednesday as a grand jury announced that a white police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, would not be indicted in the death of a black man, Eric Garner.
While hundreds of protesters gathered in Manhattan and converged on the annual Christmas tree lighting in Rockefeller Plaza, a small group of locals also gathered in Staten Island where Garner died. Some were surprised at the outcome of the grand jury decision. Some were not surprised. Others were indignant and angry.
In Times Square a disparate group of mainly young people joined by a collective anger over the decision expressed a variety of sentiments. They lashed out at the police, racism, inequality, or all of above in combination.
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“I was a little surprised. I was just like: ‘Yes! We got this one in the bag,’” said Maria Caisar, 23, a medical researcher from Brooklyn who joined a gathering in Times Square.
“Racism is real,” she said. “We all need to acknowledge it and figure out a way to just create a better world for all of us.”
