New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was heckled during his opening statement at the Democratic debate on Wednesday night by a protester shouting "fire Pantaleo." Further shouts of "fire Pantaleo" later broke out again when New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker was giving his opening statement.
The shouted protests were apparently in reference to Daniel Pantaleo, the NYPD officer who put Eric Garner in a chokehold before his death in 2014. Garner's arrest and gasps of "I can't breathe" became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement, although a grand jury ultimately did not indict Pantaleo despite his use of a banned chokehold being caught on camera.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"All eyes now fall to City Hall, where Mayor Bill de Blasio can finally deliver some measure of justice to the Garner family and those communities historically plagued by police brutality by firing NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo," Legal Aid Society attorney-in-charge Tina Luongo told the New York Daily News. "We hope that the Mayor at long last prioritizes the people of New York over the police union and abandons the political calculation that has ruled his decision making on this matter to date."
De Blasio largely hasn't expressed his feelings on Pantaleo's continued employment. "I'm not going to venture personal opinions," he said earlier this month. "When you're the steward of the entire city this is not about personal opinions."
Booker, for one, took the interruption in stride. "To the folks who were standing up to Mayor de Blasio a few minutes ago — good for you," his campaign tweeted. "That's how change is made."
-
Alaska faces earth-shaking loss as seismic monitoring stations shutterIN THE SPOTLIGHT NOAA cuts have left the western seaboard without a crucial resource to measure, understand and predict tsunamis
-
10 great advent calendars for everyone (including the dog)The Week Recommends Countdown with cocktails, jams and Legos
-
How could worsening consumer sentiment affect the economy?Today’s Big Question Sentiment dropped this month to a near-record low
-
Trump pardons 2020 fake electors, other GOP alliesSpeed Read The president pardoned Rudy Giuliani and more who tried to overturn his 2020 election loss
-
Supreme Court to decide on mail-in ballot limitsSpeed Read The court will determine whether states can count mail-in ballots received after Election Day
-
Democrats split as Senate votes to end shutdownSpeed Read The proposed deal does not extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, the Democrats’ main demand
-
USDA orders states to ‘undo’ full SNAP paymentsSpeed Read The Trump administration is telling states not to pay full November food stamp benefits
-
Senate takes first step to end record shutdownSpeed Read Eight senators in the Democratic caucus voted with Republicans to advance legislation to reopen the government
-
Has Zohran Mamdani shown the Democrats how to win again?Today’s Big Question New York City mayoral election touted as victory for left-wing populists but moderate centrist wins elsewhere present more complex path for Democratic Party
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
