NEW YORK _ The mother of Eric Garner, who died after screaming "I can't breathe!" in 2014 while in a banned NYPD chokehold, was "horrified" to hear those words repeated by another black man dying at the hands of police, this time in Minneapolis, she said Wednesday.
"To hear him utter the same dying declaration as my son Eric," Gwen Carr said in a statement about the video of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died Monday after a Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the ground for several minutes. "It's painful but true that black lives continue to be destroyed by police officers in many communities across our country. They keep killing us, and it's the same story again and again."
Video of the takedown that left Floyd dead went viral this week and prompted a national outcry, leading the city's police department to fire all four cops who were at the scene and did nothing to save the 46-year-old's life.
Carr and the Rev. Al Sharpton reached out to Floyd's family on Wednesday to offer their support.
"Our community is devastated as the criminal behavior by officers in the Minneapolis Police Department was captured in a video for the world to see," Sharpton said. "How these officers handled themselves is beyond comprehension and undeniably shows why they should be arrested and charged."
The video shows a white cop pressing Floyd's neck against the pavement with his knee for at least five minutes as the handcuffed suspect repeatedly pleaded for help.
"My neck hurts. Everything hurts," Floyd was heard telling the cop. "Water or something, please. I can't breathe."
Eyewitnesses begged the unfazed officer to lift his leg up from Floyd's neck, but the officer wouldn't relent.
Floyd's family now wants all four cops involved in the arrest to face criminal charges.
Carr promised to stand with them "in their fight for justice."
It took the New York Police Department five years to fire Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who was caught on video putting Garner in a banned chokehold. The city medical examiner declared Garner's death a homicide, but no criminal charges were ever filed against the Staten Island cop.
Police have said Garner was selling loose, untaxed cigarettes on a Staten Island sidewalk when officers approached him on July 17, 2014. When he refused to surrender, cops tried to take the 6-foot, 2-inch, 395-pound Garner into custody, with Pantaleo grabbing him from behind.
Garner yelled "I can't breathe" 11 times while he was on the ground _ all of it captured on a cellphone video obtained by the New York Daily News.
"I am glad that the firing of the officers is one fight George Floyd's family will not have to keep fighting," Carr said. "In my case, it should not have taken five years of fighting and protesting before NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo was fired for his role in my son Eric's death. But it did. And because Mayor (Bill) de Blasio still refuses to act, I am still fighting to get the other officers who helped kill Eric fired, including Justin Damico, even though July will be six years later.
"Black people in this country need to be treated as worthy of respect and given a real chance to live fulfilling, healthy, and prosperous lives," she added. "The killing of our children must end."
