Recent Grand Jury Decisions

Wow.  Clear blue skies and a high in the low 50s - and this is supposed to continue through the next 8 days.  It certainly doesn't seem to be December in Boulder!  Other than the unusually warm weather here along the Front Range, nothing much is news-worthy around here.   The University of Florida was able to buy out the contract of Colorado State's head football coach, Jim McElwain, and the (now former) Rams coach is on his way to the Gators in Gainesville.
   Yesterday I met Boppygee and Francisco Tico - the two new feline clients.  Bop is a round-headed brown tabby, who is 7 years old. Tico is the "terror" I was told about.  He's a five month old orange tabby with polydactylism.  He's just like my niece's cat, Paddle, except he has short hair instead of a medium length coat.  And he's not really a terror; he just has a kitten's energy and drive - he's a bundle of energy until he drops off to sleep.  Bop is older, and they're both males, and Tico loves to jump on him, trying to get Bop to play.  Bop would rather hide than confront Tico.
   There's been a lot of racial unrest in the nation due to the decisions of two Grand Juries - one in New York, and the other in Missouri.  This is very disturbing for me.  Both cases involved the death of an African-American male at the hands of local Caucasian police officers.  In both cases, the Grand Jury found there was not sufficient evidence to indict the police involved for murder.  Having served on a Grand Jury in Florida, and having dealt with murder and attempted murder charges, I know that there is a very fine line between proof and reasonable doubt.  In Florida, we were presented with testimony of witnesses, specialists, law enforcement officers, coroners, and, occasionally, testimony in defense of the alleged crime.
   In the case in Missouri, a police officer was charged with shooting and killing an unarmed teenager, named Michael Brown, in a suburb of St Louis, the town of Ferguson.  The young man is dead.  Nothing can change that.  As far as I know, most testimony to a Grand Jury is privileged.  We don't know exactly what was said, even though the District Attorney's office will have a transcript of the hearing.  I heard that multiple witnesses gave conflicting testimony to the Grand Jury - that Michael Brown was shot while he was standing still with his arms raised in an "I surrender" position, and that he was running straight at the officer with his arms raised, possibly to strike the police man.  Only Michael Brown and Officer Darren Wilson know what each of them was feeling and thinking, when their deadly confrontation happened.  Since the Grand Jury did not find cause for a true bill of indictment against Mr Wilson, I can only surmise that a majority of the empaneled Jury felt that there was reasonable doubt that Wilson shot Brown without a thought, or that it was premeditated.  I grieve for the loss of this young man's life, and I can understand non-violent protests in his behalf.
  In the New York case, a 43-year-old man, Eric Garner, who complained of frequent police harassment for alleged selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, there was video evidence of the encounter.  In the video, the man claims to have just "broken up a fight" between other people (not shown), and claims to have done noting wrong, that he wasn't selling anything.  The man is overweight and is standing between two police officers.  It then seems that more officers arrive, and the two standing on either side of Mr Garner begin to approach him, much more closely.  Mr Garner swings his arms and says, "Don't touch me.  Please don't touch me."  At this point, Officer Daniel Pantaleo leaps behind the man and places him in a "chokehold," while other officers assist in driving the man to the ground.  Once on the ground, you can hear Mr Garner stating over and over, "I can't breathe."  The officer continues to force Mr Garner's head to the ground, while others hold him down on the sidewalk.  You can hear Mr Garner's voice fade away.  In the videos that I have seen, there doesn't seem to be any hurry to get an ambulance and EMTs for Mr Garner.   -  In one of the few cases allowed, Officer Pantaleo  spent two hours answering questions from the Grand Jury (according to his lawyer); and it seems that he stated that he hadn't planned on, and he didn't want to, kill Mr Garner.  The Coroner's report stated that Mr Garner died from these primary causes: "compression to the neck, compression to the chest, and the prone positioning during police restraint."  Eric Garner was a large man, who stood 6 foot 3 inches tall.  I, personally, did not see a good reason to place Mr Garner in a chokehold, but when he started to swing his arms as the police closed in around him, it is possible that the much smaller and lighter-weight Pantaleo became scared and did what he thought was defending himself and others.
   I was not privy to any information regarding wither case.  I can, because of knowing about conflicting witness reports, understand the decision in Missouri regarding Michael Brown.  From what I have seen, I don't agree with the decision regarding Eric Garner in New York.  But that is just my own personal opinion, without the knowledge that those Grand Juries were given.
  Now we'll have to see what happens regarding the shooting of  Rumain Brisbon, and unarmed African-American man, by another white police man in Phoenix, Arizona last night.  Reports are conflicting; police say the man was stopped, and ran, putting his hand into his pocket.  The police say the man was yelling at the policeman chasing him.  The policeman says he thought that Brisbon had a gun in his pocket, as they were following up a report of a drug deal involving the suspect.  Mr Brisbon made it to his apartment doorway, and fell against it, making a loud noise; his wife opened the door and Brisbon ran inside, then started to remove his hand from his pocket.  The police officer thought that he was being drawn upon, and shot the suspect twice in the torso.  Brisbon was holding a bottle of Oxycodone pills.  Brisbon died from the gunshots.  People who live in the apartment building claim that things happened differently.
   I am so sorry that my country cannot get along - that there is always an "us" and "them" side.  This might just be another start of a huge wave of racial unrest throughout the United States.  It makes me sad for all of the people who live here.