The anxious mom of NYPD chokehold victim Eric Garner doesn’t want to see the flames of Ferguson burning on Staten Island.
“I’m going to stay optimistic,” said Gwen Carr, calling for an indictment in the July 17 death of her son — but encouraging folks to remain calm if the grand jury votes differently.
“We don’t want people to burn up the place,” she said Saturday with the Rev. Al Sharpton at his National Action Network headquarters in Harlem.
“There’s no way they should come back without indicting that police officer,” she said of cop Daniel Pantaleo. “I’m still hoping for the best, and hoping they do the right thing.”
Garner, 43, died during an arrest for peddling untaxed cigarettes on a Staten Island corner. A video obtained by the Daily News captured his last words — “I can’t breathe!” — as he was taken to the sidewalk by several cops.
The city medical examiner ruled his death a homicide. But a Staten Island grand jury has yet to decide on any criminal charges in the death.
“This is a difficult thing we’re dealing with, myself and my family,” said Carr, 65. “This is the first Thanksgiving I had without my son. I hope the grand jury gives us a fair decision.
“We don’t know what the outcome is, but we’re still praying, and through it all God has the last word.”
The four-month lag has left Carr feeling concerned about the probe.
“It makes me feel, ‘Why are they taking so long?'” she said. “They’re not letting us know anything. We are in the dark.”
Sharpton told the Harlem crowd that a resolution was needed in the Garner investigation.
“What will the grand jury say about justice for Eric Garner in Staten Island?” he asked. “It doesn’t take four months to look at no video!”
The dead man’s mother led the crowd in a standing ovation as Sharpton spoke.
Carr, who was also joined by Garner’s wife and the sister of a Brooklyn man killed by an errant cop bullet, sent her sympathies along to Lesley McSpadden, mother of slain 18-year-old Michael Brown Jr. of Ferguson, Mo.
“My heart goes out to the mother in Ferguson,” said Carr.
The sister of Akai Gurley, killed in a pitch black stairwell at the Pink Houses, said her family wants justice after enduring Thanksgiving with an empty seat at the table.
Gurley, 28, was mortally wounded during a Nov. 21 patrol by two rookie cops. Officer Peter Liang’s 9-mm. handgun accidentally discharged, with the bullet ricocheting off the wall and into Gurley’s chest, authorities have said.
“I want this to be known — I want this to be known everywhere,” said Akisha Pringle. “It’s one thing to get killed doing something. But it’s another thing to get killed doing nothing.”
Sharpton noted that the protests in the Ferguson case spread from coast to coast.
“This is not a white and black thing, it’s a right and wrong thing,” he said. “It’s time for national legislation and national policy in police accountability.’
