J.D. Tuccille: Want to Prevent Future Eric Garners? Don’t Give Cops Excuses to Bust People.

Only
Officer Daniel Pantaleo knows what motivated him to confront and
ultimately kill Eric Garner—and what spurred him in previous
incidents that drew two civil rights lawsuits during his eight
years with the New York Police Department. Maybe he’s a racist.
Maybe he’s a martinet. Maybe he’s just an asshole. The fact of the
matter is, it’s difficult to think of a good reason for killing a
man who attracted police attention by breaking up a fight and
peddling a few untaxed cigarettes. We’ll never know what demons may
lurk in any officer’s heart, which sets the stage for dangerous
encounters in a country where 70 percent or more of us are
technically lawbreakers.

If we really want to reduce the chance of future Eric Garners,
writes J.D. Tuccille, we need to slash the spiderweb of laws,
rules, and regulations that turn the majority of Americans into
criminals, and make us all potential targets for the police and
whatever inner demons may drive them.

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