Eric Garner’s daughter slammed Memphis officials for releasing the video of Tyre Nichols’ arrest and beating ‘like a movie premiere,’ comparing it to a public lynching.
The set of videos was released on Friday and revealed how the 29-year-old was tased, pepper sprayed and savagely beaten on January 7 before dying.
Emerald Snipes-Garner said she was furious it took so long for the videos to be released, and likened the situation to her father’s 2014 death when he was choked by New York police while repeatedly saying, ‘I can’t breathe.’
Emerald told NewsNation that if her father had gotten swift justice, then Nichols would still be alive.
It comes as nationwide condemnation has fallen on the officers who arrested Nichols, with Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. issuing a new internal investigation after suspending two deputies who stood around as Nichols was left writhing in pain.
Emerald Snipes-Garner (pictured) condemned Memphis officials’ decision to wait nearly three weeks to release footage of Tyre Nichols’ arrest
She likened the situation to the 2014 death of her father, Eric Garner, who was choked and died under police custody as he said, ‘I can’t breathe’
Speaking to Chris Cuomo on NewsNation, Emerald questioned why it took nearly three weeks to release the horrifying footage.
‘It had to be controlled by the system,’ she said of the tapes. ‘Like, “we’re just going to hold it and then we’re going to bring it out with the charges.”
‘No, you held it like it was a premiere of a movie that needed to be watched by the world. A public lynching.’
She ultimately said what happened to Nichols was a ‘replay’ of her father’s death.
Garner was arrested in July 2014 for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes in the NYPD district of Staten Island.
Officers, including Daniel Pantaleo, wrestled Garner against a glass storefront window, with Pantaleo placing his arm around Garner’s neck as other officers pinned him to the ground.
Bystander video showed Garner gasping the words ‘I can’t breathe,’ repeatedly before dying.
Following Garner’s death in July 2014, a Richmond County grand jury made the decision not to indict Pantaleo, and he remained on the force, behind a desk, until 2019 when he was finally fired.
In 2021, the New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division upheld the decision to fire Pantaleo, ruling that he acted ‘recklessly’ by holding Garber in a prohibited chokehold for 9 to 10 seconds.
Noting that the process took years and that Pantaleo was never convicted over Garner’s death, Emerald said: ‘For me, it’s always been, it’s a slap in the face. There was no justice.’
‘If we would have had that in 2014, would there have been a Tyre Nichols today? I don’t think so.
‘And, the fact that we waited for this video to be released like it was an exclusive movie that needed to be premiered on a certain day, it really boils my blood,’ she told Cuomo.
Emerald claimed Tyre Nichols would still be alive today if justice had been delivered to Garner
Daniel Pantaleo (pictured), the NYPD officer responsible for choking Garner, was never indicted over the incident and stayed on the force until he was fired in 2019
Along with Emerald’s criticism, conservative commentator Candace Owens also slammed the treatment of the video.
‘It seems intentional that the media is building days of suspense prior to the release of the bodycam by likening him to Rodney King,’ Owens wrote on Twitter, referencing the 1993 tape showing Los Angeles police brutally beating King.
The infamous video sparked massive protests across the country, including violent riots and clashes with police.
‘They are encouraging riots,’ claimed. ‘They could have released the footage already but they wanted to build maximum suspense.’
Nichols died in the hospital after he was tased, kicked and punched in the head, struck three times with a metal baton, and twice sprayed with pepper spray in the face
Conservative commentator Candace Owens also slammed the treatment of the video as an alleged spectacle by the media
Much like videos of Garner and King, Nichols’ arrest video has sparked public outrage, feuling protests, some violent, all across the country.
One demonstrator was spotted hurling fireworks at an LAPD cruiser during a huge march in the city.
Meanwhile in New York City a man was photographed standing atop a smashed police vehicle windshield.
One protester was seen standing over a clearly smashed police car front window in New York City
Officers quickly dragging him down and arrested him. At least three have been taken into custody in the Big Apple as part of the protests, according to NBC New York.
Another stood over a cop car with a tattered American flag. Antifa has issued a call to arms for protestors to light up New York City on Friday night.
In Memphis, protesters chanted: ‘Say his name! Tyre Nichols!’ and several dozen protesters blocked a heavily traveled bridge on Interstate 55 that is one of two main spans connecting Arkansas and Tennessee over the Mississippi River.
Police officers take a smiling demonstrator, who smashed the window of a police car, into custody during the protest against the police assault of Tyre Nichols at Times Square in New York, United States on January 27, 2023
One demonstrator was spotting hurling a firework at an LAPD cruiser during a huge march in the city
In Memphis, protesters chanted: ‘Say his name! Tyre Nichols!’ and several dozen protesters blocked a heavily traveled bridge on Interstate 55 that is one of two main spans connecting Arkansas and Tennessee over the Mississippi River.
Unions in California and Hawaii issued a joint statement calling the actions of the officers ‘repugnant and the complete antithesis of how honorable law enforcement professionals conduct themselves.’
The Prosecutors Alliance of California calls the killing senseless and in California’s capitol of Sacramento, Mayor Darrell Steinberg said: ‘I am filled with anger, with sorrow and revulsion.’
Businesses in multiple cities have been boarded up in anticipation for the release of the shocking footage
Workers are seen boarding up buildings ahead of expected protests
Federal employees in Memphis and Portland had been told to go home early, and workers have begun boarding up buildings.
The mayor of New York City on Friday evening urged protesters to remain peaceful, and NYPD has made extensive preparations, including asking officers to stay on and work overtime when their shift finishes on Friday.
As federal buildings had been evacuated, businesses in Memphis and Portland boarded up to protect from the expected looting.
Many more protests continued into the weekend in Memphis, Atlanta and Boston as demonstrators demanded justice for the 29-year-old.
Video of Nichols’ arrest spawned a wave of protests on Friday carrying into the weekend
Protesters called for justice as they slammed the American criminal justice system
Protesters called for justice as they condemned the police killing as a ‘War on Black America’
Pictured: Mourners placing items at a memorial site where Nichols was arrested and beaten