The chokehold death of Eric Garner in NYPD custody wasn’t “a black-and-white thing,” his widow said Sunday — a stunning admission that breaks sharply from lawmakers and protesters who have seized on the racial aspect of the case.
Esaw Snipes said she believed her husband was “murdered unjustly,” but said skin color wasn’t a factor behind his fatal arrest for allegedly selling loose cigarettes on Staten Island last summer.
The statement flies in the face of demands by Snipes and others — including the Rev. Al Sharpton — for the civil rights investigation announced by US Attorney General Eric Holder last week.
“I don’t even feel like it’s a black-and-white thing, honestly, you know, in my opinion,” Snipes told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“I really don’t feel like it’s a black-and-white thing. I feel like it’s just something that he continued to do and the police knew. You know, they knew.”
A grand jury on Wednesday did not indict NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo — touching off protests nationwide in which marchers cite race as the core issue.
On Sunday, protesters marched from Washington Square Park for a “die-in” at Union Square, as others belted out reworked holiday tunes in Herald Square.
“All I want for Christmas is an indictment,” they sang.
Police said two demonstrators were arrested as of midnight Monday.
During her TV interview, Snipes suggested Garner, a 43-year-old father of six, began peddling smokes because he couldn’t hold down a job due to poor health and sloth.
“He tried working with the Parks Department. But he had asthma. You know? He had issues. You know? Heavy guy. And he was very lazy. You know? He didn’t like to do anything,” she said.
Snipes insisted that during his numerous run-ins with cops, Garner had never resisted arrest, which cops say was the reason for the fatal July 17 takedown.
“I’m not going to say he was a career criminal, but I’m going to say he had a past of being arrested,” Snipes said. “And he never, not once, ever resisted arrest.”
Snipes said cops even knew her husband “by name” and routinely “harassed” the couple when they went out shopping.
“They said things to us: ‘Hi, Cigarette Man. Hey, Cigarette Man Wife.’ You know? Stuff like that,” she said.
Meanwhile, Mayor Bill de Blasio repeatedly refused to say if he respected the grand jury decision.
“[I] respect the process,” he told ABC’s “This Week.”
De Blasio also denied throwing cops “under the bus,” as the PBA claims, by revealing that he and First Lady Chirlane McCray had trained their biracial son, Dante, about the “dangers” police pose.
“I have immense respect for the men and women who protect us,” de Blasio said.
But he added that there’s “a rift here that has to be overcome” between cops and minorities.
During a radio interview Sunday, the head of the NYPD’s sergeants union called de Blasio “way off base,” “truly lacking in leadership” and “really hypocritical and moronic.”
“Ultimately, if this individual who’s in charge of running this city doesn’t have faith in his own son being protected by the NYPD, he may want to think about moving out of New York completely,” Ed Mullins told “The Cats Roundtable” on AM 970.
Additional reporting by Michael Gartland and Antonio Antenucci
