A half-dozen Long Islanders stormed the Massapequa Park office of Rep. Peter King on Friday morning to demand an apology for remarks he made about Eric Garner, an unarmed African-American man who was choked to death by a Staten Island police officer.
King had commented that Eric Garner would not have died had he not been obese. “If he had not had asthma and a heart condition and was so obese, almost definitely he would not have died from this,” he said on CNN’s Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer two weeks ago. “The police had no reason to know that he was in serious condition.”
The protesters carried signs reading, “Dethrone the King” and “Obesity is not a crime.”
“Peter King does not represent his constituents with his racist views on police brutality,” said Cheryl Keshner, one of the participants. She asked that he publicly apologize for his comments.
In recent weeks, hundreds of people across New York State and Long Island have held demonstrations, marches, and vigils in response to police brutality and the lack of accountability for such actions.
