Eric Garner’s daughter slammed Memphis officials for releasing video of Tire Nichols’ arrest and beating “like a movie premiere,” comparing it to a public lynching.
Videos were released on Friday and showed the 29-year-old being tasered, pepper-sprayed and brutally beaten before he died on January 7.
Emerald Snipes-Garner said she was angry that it took so long for the videos to be released and likened the situation to her father’s death in 2014 when he was choked by New York City police, while repeatedly saying : “I can not breath.”
Emerald told NewsNation that Nichols would still be alive if justice was swift to her father.
It comes as the officers who arrested Nichols received national convictions. Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. launched a new internal investigation after suspending two deputies who stood around as Nichols convulsed in pain.
Emerald Snipes-Garner (pictured) condemned Memphis officials’ decision to wait nearly three weeks to release footage of Tire Nichols’ arrest
She compared the situation to the 2014 death of her father Eric Garner, who was choked and died in police custody as he said, “I can’t breathe.”
Speaking to Chris Cuomo on NewsNation, Emerald asked why it took nearly three weeks to release the horrifying footage.
“It had to be controlled by the system,” she said of the tapes. “Like ‘we’re just going to record it and then we’re going to bring it out with the charges.’
“No, you made it look like it was the premiere of a movie for the whole world to see. A public lynching.”
She eventually said what happened to Nichols was a “repeat” of her father’s death.
Garner was arrested in July 2014 for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes in Staten Island’s NYPD district.
Officers, including Daniel Pantaleo, wrestled Garner against a glass storefront, with Pantaleo wrapping his arm around Garner’s neck while other officers pinned him to the ground.
Video from a bystander showed Garner repeatedly gasping the words “I can’t breathe” before dying.
Following Garner’s death in July 2014, a Richmond County grand jury decided not to indict Pantaleo, and he remained on duty behind a desk until his eventual discharge in 2019.
In 2021, the New York Supreme Court’s appellate division upheld the decision to pardon Pantaleo, ruling that he acted “recklessly” by holding Garber in an illegal chokehold for 9 to 10 seconds.
Noting that the trial took years and that Pantaleo was never convicted of Garner’s death, Emerald said: “It was always a slap in the face for me. There was no justice.’
“If we had that in 2014, would there have been a Tire Nichols today? I do not think so.
“And the fact that we’ve been waiting for the release of this video like it’s an exclusive movie that had to premiere on a certain date really gets my blood boiling,” she told Cuomo.
Emerald claimed that Tire Nichols would still be alive today if justice had been done to Garner
Daniel Pantaleo (pictured), the NYPD officer responsible for Garner’s choking, was never charged in the incident and remained on duty until he was fired in 2019
Alongside Emerald’s criticism, conservative commentator Candace Owens also criticized the video’s treatment.
“It seems intentional that the media would build suspense days before the release of the bodycam by comparing him to Rodney King,” Owens wrote on Twitter, referring to the 1993 video showing the Los Angeles Police Department King brutally beaten.
The infamous video sparked massive protests across the country, including violent riots and clashes with police.
“They encourage riots,” he claimed. “They could have released the footage already, but they wanted to build maximum excitement.”
Nichols died in hospital after being stabbed, kicked and punched in the head, hit three times with a metal baton and sprayed twice in the face with pepper spray
Conservative commentator Candace Owens also criticized the media’s treatment of the video as an alleged spectacle
Much like Garner and King’s videos, Nichols’ arrest video has sparked public outrage across the country and vilified protests, some of which have turned violent.
A protester was seen hurling firecrackers at an LAPD cruiser during a large march in the city.
Meanwhile, in New York City, a man was photographed standing on a smashed windshield of a police vehicle.
A protester was seen standing over a badly smashed front window of a police car in New York City
The officers quickly dragged him down and arrested him. At least three people in the Big Apple were taken into custody as part of the protests, according to NBC New York.
Another stood over a squad car with a tattered American flag. Antifa has called out protesters to light up New York City on Friday night.
In Memphis, protesters chanted, “Say his name! Tire Nichols!’ and several dozen protesters blocked a busy bridge on Interstate 55, which is one of two main bridges connecting Arkansas and Tennessee across the Mississippi River.
Police officers take into custody a smiling protester who smashed the window of a police car during the protest against the Tire Nichols police attack in Times Square in New York, the United States, January 27, 2023
A protester was seen hurling fireworks at an LAPD cruiser during a large march in the city
In Memphis, protesters chanted, “Say his name! Tire Nichols!’ and several dozen protesters blocked a busy bridge on Interstate 55, which is one of two main bridges connecting Arkansas and Tennessee across the Mississippi River.
Unions in California and Hawaii issued a joint statement calling the officers’ actions “disgusting and the complete opposite of how honorable law enforcement officers behave.”
The Prosecutors Alliance of California calls the killing pointless, and in Sacramento, California’s capital, Mayor Darrell Steinberg said, “I am filled with anger, sadness and disgust.”
Businesses in several cities have been boarded up in anticipation of the release of the shocking footage
Workers are seen boarding buildings ahead of expected protests
Federal employees in Memphis and Portland have been ordered to go home earlier and workers have begun boarding up buildings.
The Mayor of New York City urged protesters Friday night to remain peaceful, and the NYPD has made extensive preparations, including asking officers to stay and work overtime when their shift ends Friday.
As federal buildings were evacuated, businesses in Memphis and Portland barricaded themselves to protect themselves from the expected looting.