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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Talent teen planned to kill woman, sexually abuse corpse ... In-N-Out fans celebrate opening of Medford store ... Haggen grocery store chain files for bankruptcy protection ... Talent teen planned to kill woman, sexually abuse corpse ... In-N-Out fans celebrate opening of Medford store ... Haggen grocery store chain files for bankruptcy protection ... Amy Gehrt: Time to admit there's a problem with our justice system Comment By Amy Gehrt More Content Now MailTribune.com By Amy Gehrt More Content Now Posted Dec. 5, 2014 at 7:03 AM By Amy Gehrt More Content Now Posted Dec. 5, 2014 at 7:03 AM » Social News OK, America, are we ready to admit we have a problem with our justice system yet? For the second week in a row, a grand jury’s failure to indict a white police officer in the death of an unarmed black man has left many of us reeling. And, as protesters pour out into the streets to voice their outrage over yet another miscarriage of justice, once again the question of how to fix our clearly broken justice system is foremost on many of our minds. Last week, I thought the answer was requiring more cops to wear video cameras on their vests. Yet in the case of Eric Garner, there was a video. It clearly shows the 43-year-old, who was stopped by a group of police officers for allegedly selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, telling them he hadn’t done anything and to leave him alone. Officer Daniel Pantaleo then places his arm around the unarmed man’s neck in an apparent chokehold — which is banned by the NYPD — as the others assist him. All the while, the asthmatic Garner can be heard gasping, repeatedly, that he can’t breathe. Still, Pantaleo does not loosen his grip, nor does anyone check on Garner. And if all of that wasn’t disturbing enough, a second video shows police and paramedics milling about, seemingly unconcerned with even trying to revive a motionless Garner. That all seems pretty damning to me. So how can any reasonable person view those videos and think that Pantaleo acted in a legal, appropriate manner? Pantaleo claims he was using a takedown move taught by the police department, and his lawyers and police union officials are trying to blame Garner’s death on his health. However, the medical examiner in the case ruled it a homicide and said, based on the medical evidence, a chokehold contributed to Garner’s death — findings that were backed up by a forensic pathologist hired by Garner’s family. So on one side, we have videographic and medical evidence, and on the other side, we have an officer’s self-serving version of events. Which do you think is more trustworthy? A friend of mine posted this on Facebook: “I was trained many times in physical restraint. I was trained twice in two different methods of physical restraint to train OTHERS in physical restraint. If someone says, ‘I can’t breathe’ and you kill them, you are pretty much a stone-cold killer. Social justice in America is dead, and we are all so polarized that I would fear for your children, regardless of ____.” Before long, the blue wall began forming, and a member of law enforcement launched an attack, accusing my friend of being anti-cop. It’s a ludicrous leap, and, lately, one I’ve seen all too often in these instances. Rather than assume that every time an officer deserves to be prosecuted it means we’re all anti-cop, I think members of law enforcement should be outraged others do these awful things and sully their good names, and they should be leading the charge for justice. Every profession has bad apples and people who do the wrong thing, or are simply not cut out for their line of work. How the rest of those in the profession respond is key to how the outside world sees them. The anger I felt last week has been replaced by an overwhelming sense of sadness and disillusionment. How can a country whose Constitution guarantees equal protection to all citizens, and whose Declaration of Independence states that “all men are created equal” still be struggling so much to uniformly secure every American’s “unalienable rights”? Jon Stewart summed it up eloquently on his show Wednesday night, saying, “You know, I think what is so utterly depressing is that none of the ambiguities that existed in the Ferguson case (with Michael Brown) exist in the Staten Island case. And yet, the outcome is exactly the same. No crime, no trial — all harm, no foul. In Ferguson, at least you had conflicting witness testimony, you had conflicting forensics, you had the specter, at least, of police self-defense.” “But here, there is none of that.” he added. “The coroner called it a homicide. The guy’s not acting threatening, and we know that not through witness testimony, unreliable bystanders, but because we are f---ing watching it. Someone taped it.” Even Bill O’Reilly, with whom I rarely agree, said he was “extremely troubled” by what he saw in the video, and that Garner “did not deserve what happened to him. And I think Officer Pantaleo and every other American police officer ­— everyone — would agree with me. He didn’t deserve that.” I’d like to think he’s right. As a child, I was always taught to go to a police officer if I was lost or needed help, but a number of parents must now have much different, extraordinarily more complex conversations with their offspring. That fact was highlighted by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in an emotional speech Wednesday night. His teenage son, Dante, is black, and he referred to the painful discussions he and his wife have had with Dante regarding “how to take special care with any encounter he may have with police officers.” That’s a conversation no parent should need to have with a child. However, if the string of recent injustices leads to real reforms, perhaps the lost trust in the justice system can be slowly rebuilt ­— and those tough talks will no longer be necessary. Pekin Daily Times city editor Amy Gehrt may be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @AmyGehrt. By Amy Gehrt More Content Now MailTribune.com By Amy Gehrt More Content Now Posted Dec. 5, 2014 at 7:03 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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