Cops Are Never Safe When Making An Arrest

In the Dec. 6 Post, Linda Chavez wrote, “Eric Garner was no Michael Brown, and the officers who held Garner down — including, but not limited to, Daniel Pantaleo — had no reason to fear for their lives, as Darren Wilson did.” 

Although I often find myself in agreement with the opinions of Ms. Chavez, this time we differ. 

About 4:30 on the morning of March 13, 2011, four New York City police officers confronted one unarmed male, age 42, who was standing on the top step of a Brooklyn home owned by his parents. 

The officers were responding to a domestic-violence call from this individual’s girlfriend. He proclaimed his innocence, but an arrest was called for. 

As one officer approached him from the side to place him in handcuffs, he suddenly turned, determined not to be arrested, and struck the officer with both hands in the chest, knocking him backward over the stoop railing. 

The fall broke the officer’s neck. 

In one violent, unexpected, insane second, Police Officer Alain Schaberger, my son, was dead. The individual was then taken into custody without further violence. 

My point is that no on-duty police officer is safe until he or she is back standing in front of his or her locker. 

The officers in the Eric Garner incident had every reason to be concerned about their own safety when a 300-plus-pound man, a known lawbreaker, stated that he would not be arrested. 

I am not arguing about the “chokehold” action or the grand-jury decision, and having lost my son, I understand the grief and anger of the Garner family. 

However, any and every confrontation, by definition, is a reason for a police officer to be concerned — and when a suspect refuses to cooperate, and therefore escalates the situation, the concern of the officer(s) should, and must, deepen accordingly. 

It is ironic that, in both the incident involving my son and the one involving Eric Garner, had a police officer drawn his weapon, the chances are, no further violence would have occurred. 

But, with the restrictions every officer faces with regard to the use of his weapon, this did not happen. 

Maybe the chokehold isn’t the only issue city fathers might want to have the NYPD review.