"American Trial: The Eric
Garner Story" depicts the trial that did not
happen after a white New York police officer,
Daniel Pantaleo, was videotaped using a deadly
chokehold on Garner, a Black man, in July 2014
after he was arrested for selling loose
cigarettes on a street in Staten Island.
Garner's dying words, "I can't breathe," became
a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter
protests decrying excessive use of force by U.S.
police against Black men and women.
A grand jury decided not to indict Pantaleo, who
was fired in August 2019 following an internal
disciplinary hearing. Pantaleo's lawyers said
the police officer was following orders and was
not to blame for Garner's death.
"When the non-indictment came through... it kind
of became, I guess, an obsession," said director
Roee Messinger.
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"Then one day it just occurred to me, I live in
New York, everybody thinks there should have
been a trial. Everybody who would have testified
in court is probably within a 15-20 mile radius
of me," he said.
Garner's widow, Esaw Snipes-Garner, and actual
witnesses play themselves in the unscripted
courtroom docudrama. It was first shown on cable
network Reelz and is now being distributed more
widely online.
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![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Jul/15/images/ads/current/debbiesflora_lda_060820.png) Snipes-Garner hoped the film,
shot in 2017, would be released earlier and
would prompt prosecutors to reexamine the case,
as well as help provide healing for herself.
"I was thinking maybe it would give some insight
to the legal people to, like take from what Roee
put together and open up their minds to see what
everybody else saw on camera. And unfortunately,
it didn't happen that way," said Snipes-Garner.
The film also features interviews with two Black
Lives Matter activists and two white academics.
"There were no actors, there was no script,"
explained Messinger. "We shot the whole thing in
one day."
Ahead of the sixth anniversary of Garner's death
on July 17, his widow said every day is painful.
However, she laughs when she thinks about what
Garner must be thinking. "I think he's up there
laughing right now because he's like, what? My
baby is really gone on screen and talking to
somebody. Wow!"
(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Rosalba O'Brien)
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