VMI77 wrote:This use of "law enforcement" resources is so absurd it beggars description. Even if he was selling cigs untaxed by NYC, and no proof has been offered that he did, the amount of revenue expended in this operation is far in excess of any taxes they could have ever collected from this seller. In the real world of business that's called stupidity and leads to bankruptcy. It's even more stupid since they killed the goose and now cannot receive any future tax revenue from him.
The cig tax/law is a two fold shake down operation. The city is shaking down consumers and then offering mafia like protection to the stores in order to eliminate their competition, which is also competition for the city. I have yet to see any proof offered that Garner was even doing anything illegal. He may have purchased legally taxed cigs and just offered a service that the stores weren't offering....."loosies."
It's pretty clear that his real crime was failing to bow low enough to the police and city tax authority. The cops decided to teach him a lesson by arresting him. I doubt that any of them intended to kill him, but it didn't bother them in the least that they did....no one even attempted to render aid...and the cop who killed him flipped off the crowd afterwards. And it's my understanding that the only indictment the DA managed to get is of the guy who took the video. You might like that kind of "law enforcement" but that's not the kind of country I want to live in. In my view, there is something seriously wrong with any government under which you can end up dead for the mere act of selling a legal item without the government's sanction or permission. And when it's on the scale of a single cigarette you're living under a government that has lost its sanity. It is certainly not a "free" country.
The real criminals are the politicians who pass volumes of laws and regulations every year in order to regulate and control society even more. The police are just their proxies in keeping the sheep in line. As the politicians continue to increase control over society and to provide cover for the excessive use of force by the police, the police will become more abusive, at least until the sheep wake up.