BREAKING: An NYPD officer will not be indicted for the chokehold death of Eric Garner back in July. From the New York Daily News:

Staten Island was bracing for Ferguson-like trouble Wednesday after a grand jury chose not to indict an NYPD officer for killing Eric Garner with a chokehold, sources said.

There had been warnings earlier that a decision not to charge Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who is white, with a crime for killing a black man, would fan tensions.

And as word of the panel’s decision seeped into the Staten Island neighborhoods where anti-police sentiment is strongest, cops were on high alert and prepared for the worst.

Garner, a 43-year-old father of six, was killed July 17 when Pantaleo subdued him on a Tompkinsville street with a banned chokehold…

…after several months of reviewing the evidence, a majority on the panel, which sources said consisted of 15 white and 8 black or Hispanic jurors, concluded there was not enough there to charge Pantaleo with a crime.

Video of the attempted arrest of Garner courtesy New York Daily News:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhqHEgIgSGU

Police claim they approached Mr. Garner on the street because he was selling cigarettes illegally and when they attempted to arrest him, he then resisted. They dispute the claim that the officer used a banned chokehold, but instead used a variation of that maneuver. Garner reportedly had a lengthy criminal record; the officer has been a defendant in two previous lawsuits, accused of “false arrest and violating police procedures.”

A coroner ruled Garner’s death a homicide and insisted the chokehold, along with other police actions, were the cause of his death. But other reports say he died of a heart attack.

Officer Pantaleo may still face reprimands from the NYPD.

Let’s hope and pray the grand jury’s decision won’t ignite a fresh, new round of looting and burning. It’s a pipe dream, I know, because cue the irresponsible race-baiters in 3…2…1

UPDATE [1:20 pm] NYC Mayor de Blasio to hold a press conference on the grand jury’s decision. Pot stirring to follow.