The parents of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, who were allegedly killed by police, say they need the
(25 Sep 2014) The families of Michael Brown and Eric Garner spoke at a rally in Washington on Thursday. Speaking along with leaders of the National Urban League and the National Action Network, the parents said their children were wrongfully killed by police. Eric Garner, 43, died following a July 17 confrontation with police on Staten Island who were attempting to arrest him for selling untaxed, loose cigarettes. The confrontation, which was partially captured on amateur video, shows an irate Garner, who was black, refusing to be arrested and struggling with a white officer who places him in a department-banned chokehold, as he repeatedly says "I can't breathe!" before falling to the ground. "Our children, they might have made mistakes in their life but at the time when they were being killed ... the sentence wasn't death," Garner's mother, Gwen Carr said. "We're here also to ask for justice and we need it now." Garner's death led to the announcement of an overhaul of use-of-force training for the NYPD, the nation's largest police department. The case against the police officer has been sent to a grand jury. Meanwhile, the family of Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager who was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in August, says they're continuing to seek justice. "I am here to try to make sure that this doesn't happen to anyone else's family," the teen's father, Michael Brown Sr. said. "This is very terrible for us and everyone else that has lost. We are here to get justice and we need your help." Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network also responded to news of Attorney General Eric Holder's resignation saying, "there is no attorney general that has demonstrated a civil rights record equal to Eric Holder." Holder launched an investigation by the Department of Justice into Brown's death as well as a civil rights probe into the police practices of the Ferguson police department. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
