Dante Pomar
2/23/85-7/29/04
August 9, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
Ten years has passed since Dante Pomar was murdered on 7/29/04 by the NYPD, and, now, there is yet other brutal killing of Eric Garner by the same law enforcement. What is striking about these tragic deaths is that they have strong similarities. Both are killed for no apparent reason. Both are constantly harassed before violently killed.
Dante is chased by an unmarked police car that eventually led to his death. He is chased because he is not wearing a helmet while riding his mini motorcycle. After the chase Dante is seen laying on the ground of an alley motionless in handcuffs. It’s unknown how long Dante was left in handcuffs on the ground before the EMS was called to save his life—assuming he was still alive—because when the family and friends reached the site, the cops involved (Thomas, Roach, Blassic) have left the site and other cops have replaced them, and still the emergency workers have not reached the site yet. Dante suffered horrific injuries: the top of his head was cracked opened, lacerations to his left arm, middle body and, left leg. It’s as if his body was dragged by a vehicle.
Eric is killed because the cops said he was selling untaxed cigarettes. The cops grabbed him in a chokehold and kept choking him, even as he said, “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe,” and they left him laying on the sidewalk in handcuffs. The EMS workers when arrived to the site, they did nothing at the presence of a dying man.
The only difference between these gruesome deaths is that Dante has only two witnesses, while Eric has the world as witness—his death was caught on video. Now the cops can’t lie and say they acted in self-defense that he had a gun or other dirty lie
Dante’s first witness, a young Black man, saw Dante being chased by the cops. After the incident, these same cops went to his house to harass him. Later he was arrested several times. His second witness is a former military, family man. He saw by the back window of his house how the cops fixed the scene. The cops, then, threaten him pointing a gun at him. They told him he will be killed and his house burned if he says what he saw.
These two men did not deserve to die in a beastly manner. Dante, who was still in his teen years, was a good-hearted person, had just finished his studies in a technical school. Eric was a family man, loved by many.
In short, ten years have passed since Dante was killed and the police continue to follow a vicious criminal behavior against a group of people, mainly Black and Latino. We need to resist and put an end to police brutality that threats minority youth as permanent suspects, guilty until proven innocent, if they survive to prove their innocence. The US has 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the world’s prison population. More than 60% of those in prison are Black or Latino. What can we say about a system that allows its police to brutalize and murder people?
The worst attitude is indifference, “there’s nothing I can do,”—adopting this mindset will deprive you of one of the fundamental qualities of being human: outrage. Our capacity for protest is indispensable, as in our freedom to engage.
October, 2014 is the Month of Resistance to Mass Incarceration Police Terror, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation throughout the nation.
Hector & Gloria
Parents
[Reprinted with permission from Gloria]
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