Wednesday will mark 10 years since the death of Eric Garner at the hands of NYPD officers on Staten Island. His mother, Gwen Carr, is still looking to keep his memory alive.
“I’m still trying to keep my son’s name relevant. Still fighting for justice for myself, as well as others,” Carr said in an interview with NY1 on Sunday. “There’s so many of us out here that didn’t get justice, and we want justice. When there’s these senseless deaths, it’s not fair for our loved ones to be taken away from us, and then there’s no justice, no accountability.”
What You Need To Know
- On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner died while in police custody
- The officer who placed Garner in a chokehold was fired from NYPD
- Gwen Carr, Garner's mother, says she is still seeking complete justice
Garner died in 2014 during an arrest for selling loose cigarettes. The incident was captured on cell phone video. He could be heard 11 times telling officers, “I can’t breathe” before he died.
Former NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who used a banned chokehold on Garner, was fired in August 2019, more than five years after Garner’s death. But Carr said she is still seeking for justice for her son.
“Pantaleo was fired, that was a step in the right direction. But there was other officers who was involved in my son’s death that day. And I think they should be fired also,” Carr said. “But there was no action, no court date. The only thing that we got, we got a call, we got a hearing. But it was made clear to me that those officers was not going to face any penalties, which I think is so unfair. And Pantaleo being fired with no [criminal] charges — that’s absurd, I think.”
Reflecting on 10 years since Garner’s death, Carr still suffers from the pain of his loss, saying, “I have my good days, I have my dark days.”
“I try to think of the good times, the things we did together — his birthday, Christmas, because those are the things that he really liked to celebrate. His children,” she added.
Over the past decade, Carr has taken on an active role in fighting for police reform, and has worked to educate the next generation.
“Keeping Eric's name available and relevant, I think that's important, because when his children and his grandchildren basically grow up — because they were too young to understand what happened to their grandfather — once they do understand, we want to let them know how we fought,” Carr said.
A march organized in Garner’s memory will begin at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. The crowd will march to Tompkinsville Park, where a street has since been renamed in his honor. Refreshments will be available at the park, according to Carr.