‘I can’t breathe': Eric Garner remembered on the 10th anniversary of his chokehold death

NEW YORK (AP) — Wednesday marks 10 years since the death of Eric Garner at the hands of New York City police officers made “I can’t breathe” a rallying cry.

Bystander video showed Garner gasping the phrase while locked in a police chokehold and spurred Black Lives Matter protests in New York and across the country. More demonstrations followed weeks later when Michael Brown, an 18-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, on Aug. 9, 2014.

Six years later, George Floyd was recorded uttering the exact same words as he begged for air while a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck, sparking a new wave of mass protests.

Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, planned to lead a march honoring her son Wednesday morning on Staten Island, the borough where Garner died after being restrained by Officer Daniel Pantaleo. Carr told TV station NY1 that she is still trying to keep her son’s name relevant and fighting for justice.

Garner died after a July 17, 2014, confrontation with Pantaleo and other officers who suspected that he was selling loose, untaxed cigarettes on the street.

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