Eric Garner decision sparks protests across New York City

(Image credit: Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

last updated 10 January 2015

Across Manhattan, protesters outraged over a Staten Island grand jury's decision not to indict a police officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner took to the streets, with many chanting the same words Garner said before he died: "I can't breathe."

Demonstrators took over the West Side Highway, blocked traffic in Times Square, marched near the Christmas tree lighting in Rockefeller Center, and lay down in protest in Grand Central Terminal and Columbus Circle, The New York Times reports. Some protesters were also spotted in Staten Island at the site of Garner's death.

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U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said that a federal civil rights investigation will be opened in the case, and the Rev. Al Sharpton also held a press conference with the Garner family, calling for a national march in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 13 to address the Garner and Michael Brown cases. At the conference, Garner's widow, Esaw Garner, vowed that "as long as I have breath in my body, I will fight the fight until the end."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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