By Juan Soto
About 100 York College students staged a “die-in” Monday to vent their frustration over the Eric Garner case and other instances where unarmed civilians died in confrontations with the police.
The “die-in” at the Jamaica campus, with the presence of five faculty members, took place just two days before the final examination period was to begin this week.
Some of the students wore “I can’t breath” T-shirts, in reference to Garner’s words as he slumped to the sidewalk while being arrested for selling loose cigarettes.
The students and faculty who attended the peaceful rally to protest police-involved deaths chanted “Black Lives Matter” and “I Can’t Breathe” along the way. They lay down on Guy Brewer Boulevard, located just outside the main campus, blocking traffic for several minutes.
The “die-in” in downtown Jamaica came days after the relations between the police, the mayor and the City Council grew very tense.
“York College is proud of its students and the community for demonstrating their awareness of current events and through their participation making a statement of the need for justice in the Queens communities and the nation,” said Panayiotis Meleties, the school’s acting provost.
And in the First Baptist Church in East Elmhurst, Julissa Ferraras (D-East Elmhurst) help a prayer for justice for Garner with several elected officials, community leaders and residents.
In response to Garner’s chokehold death, the City Council is asking the NYPD inspector general to investigate how the department tracks and monitors abuses by cops.
Queens resident Pat Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, was outraged by the Council’s proposal.
“Frankly, I am disgusted with the double talk coming out of this City Council,” he said. “They praised police with words and then take actions that clearly demonstrate their true lack of support for the very people who protect them and make their communities safer.”
He pointed out the Council’s proposal to set up spaces in Council members’ offices for the Civilian Complaint Review Board to take complaints from citizens “are not worth the paper they are written on because anyone can file the most baseless, sensational complaint without fear of penalty if the complaint if proven to be false.”
Lynch added, “If this Council is interested in really improving police community relations, let them introduce a bill requiring complaints to be sworn under penalty of perjury that will help to separate real complaints from flat out harassment of arresting officers.”
But Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) said, “The Council takes its oversight role over the NYPD seriously. Good community-police relations are essential to having a strong police force.”
In a statement, a spokesman for the Department of Investigation’s office of the NYPD Inspector General said, “We look forward to receiving the City Council request. For several months, [DOI’s office] has been reviewing questions related to the use of force and, specifically, chokeholds. We do not discuss our investigations until they are complete.”
The PBA also posted a note on its website called “Don’t Insult My Sacrifice,” asking its members to sign it requesting “Mayor [Bill] de Blasio and Melissa Mark-Viverito refrain from attending my funeral services in the event that I am killed in the line of duty.”
“The City Council will be taking a comprehensive look at the steps we can take to find a positive outcome from the tragic events which led to the death of Eric Garner,” Mark-Viverito said. “The overwhelming majority of NYPD officers serve honorably and with great distinction every day and these reforms are about ensuring the actions of a few don’t malign the whole.”
The Progressive Caucus of the Council blasted the PBA’s efforts “to illustrate an adversarial relationship between the administration, the Legislature and the essential, public servicemen in the NYPD.”
They pointed out that the PBA’s request to “exclude elected officials, who have advocated on behalf of police officers, are detrimental to community unity.”
Councilman Donovan Richards (D-Laurelton), co-chairman of the caucus, described as “troubling” the police union’s petition against the mayor and the speaker.
“The police must partner with legislators to ensure that all New Yorkers are treated with respect in accordance to the law,” he said. “If we fail to stand united on issues such as police accountability, it will become increasingly difficult to achieve the needed reforms in the system that justice demands.”
And Councilman I. Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans), said the de Blasio administration and the City Council “have clearly displayed a value for working people and, in particular, public employees, many of whom provide critical services to the residents of New York City.”
He added, “any implication to the contrary would be disingenuous at best.”
Reach reporter Juan Soto by e-mail at jsoto@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4564.
