Eric Garner died because he was obese. That was the inference of the New York police officers who dropped him to the ground and snuffed out his life. Mr. Garner tried in vain to tell the cops, "I can't breathe." They did not pay heed to his dying words.
All this because he was selling contraband cigarettes, a misdemeanor crime. I believe that, as a nation, we have come to a saturation point of cops playing god, drenched in Teflon, immune to justice.
A backlash has begun, and I believe we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg ("Morgan State students continue demonstrations on N.Y., Ferguson cases," Dec. 4). The average citizen regardless of color, creed or religion is monitoring these debacles as they unfold on our TVs on a seemingly continual basis.
Without our police forces, there lurks anarchy, pandemonium, flat-out chaos. We assume they are our last bastion against scofflaws, villains and murderers. The so-called Teflon mind set of cops pertains to a minute number of them. We are all cognizant that most are good cops, good people.
Having said that, it is incumbent that as a nation we immediately begin the process of winnowing the ruthless cops before another life is quashed at the hands of men and women we trust to protect and serve our nation.
Patrick R. Lynch, Nottingham