> Eric Garner was killed on video. Exactly what has been done about that? Nothing and nothing? Not quite true - there was one person who was charged (and convi

> Eric Garner was killed on video. Exactly what has been done about that? Nothing and nothing? Not quite true - there was one person who was charged (and convicted). Two days ago, the person who filmed Garner's death was just sentenced to 4 years in prison, for charges which many believe were in retaliation for filming the video[0][1][2]. > Stanley Cohen, a New-York based lawyer and former social worker who in the 1980s held community cohesion sessions with the city's police departments, said that Orta's case was an example of "vicious, retaliatory and vindictive" intimidation. "They want to create an environment where people are terrified to speak up and out and be good citizens," [he said]. More broadly, citizen bystanders are routinely harassed for filming police encounters on their cell phones and told that this is illegal (it's not). I happen to live near a highly-trafficked (and therefore highly policed) area, so I see this happen with my own eyes all the time. Preserving citizens' rights to film public encounters with police is far more important than providing officers with the means to film the encounters themselves. [0] http://www.vibe.com/2016/10/ramsey-orta-eric-garner-four-year-sentence/ http://www.vibe.com/2016/10/ramsey-orta-eric-garner-four-yea... [1] http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ramsey-orta-filmed-eric-garner-death-sentenced-4-years-article-1.2815791 http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ramsey-orta-filmed-eric-... [2] http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/10/ny-man-filmed-eric-garner-death-heading-jail-161001074627241.html http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/10/ny-man-fil...