Charles Barron Warns of ‘Explosion’ in Reaction to NYPD Chokeholds
Will Bredderman
Former Brooklyn councilman and current Assembly candidate Charles Barron warned today of a potential outbreak of violence in reaction to the police department’s use of prohibited chokeholds against black civilians and failure to permanently remove officers found to have employed the maneuver.
“I don’t care what anyone says, there is a powder keg in this town. Don’t blame me, the social forecaster, when there is an explosion in this town,” Mr. Barron, who still identifies as a Black Panther, said. “Just like you don’t blame the weatherman when the storm comes.”
At a press conference where he charged that a cop had used a chokehold on a seven-months-pregnant Brooklyn woman this past Saturday — just over a week after the maneuver was used shortly before the death of Staten Islander Eric Garner in police custody — Mr. Barron demanded the immediate firing of the officer in the Brooklyn incident, as well as the firing of his immediate superior and of Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.
The pol, who said civilians in both instances wound up in chokeholds because they were black, warned that Mayor Bill de Blasio would face potentially violent consequences if the use of chokeholds did not stop immediately and officers found to have used them not be severely punished.
Read more at http://observer.com/2014/07/charles-barron-warns-of-explosion-in-reaction-to-nypd-chokeholds/#ixzz38nh7OK9a