The memorial to Eric Garner, the unarmed black man who died after he was put in a chokehold by a white New York police officer, reportedly burned down overnight on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
At about midnight, Garner’s daughter Erica tweeted, “evil set my dad’s memorial on fire tonight,” but called for people to rebuild it on Tuesday. She later tweeted photos. An organizer of the group Right of Way also tweeted photos of the memorial in tatters at about 2 a.m. on Tuesday, saying the display was “burned to the ground.”
Police said they suspected candles accidentally burned down the memorial, according to the New York Post.
In September, a similar makeshift memorial to slain black teenager Michael Brown mysteriously burned down in Ferguson, Mo. Police also said the fire was started by nearby candles, but locals reportedly suspected arson.
Tonight, on #MLKDay, #EricGarner‘s memorial was burned to the ground.
#ReclaimMLK. No justice, no peace. pic.twitter.com/QZA34DzWxd
— Keegan Stephan (@KeeganNYC) January 20, 2015
evil set my dads memoral on fire tonight .but cant erase his legacy. rebuild 2morrow #anonymousopfurguson #OpICantBreathe
— officialERICA GARNER (@es_snipes) January 20, 2015
can we have investigation looking into this???who can be held accountable for this #OpICantBreathe
— officialERICA GARNER (@es_snipes) January 20, 2015
Someone trashed the #EricGarner memorial tonight. “@es_snipes: pic.twitter.com/y0jW1pQBAA“
— Carmine (@carminemac) January 20, 2015
h/t Vocativ
Evil candles?
C’mon people, we gotta realize that unattended candles at a memorial are going to cause fires sometimes. Candles cause 3% of the reported fires in this country every year. http://www.nfpa.org/research/reports-and-statistics/fire-causes/candles.
There is enough pain in this situation without jumping to conclusions and creating extra villains out of a common accident.
By all means, rebuild. But also realize that having just anyone put candles out there is likely going to result in future fires.
Well , the police claimed to have multiple videos ( that they never released ) of that exact location after they chocked Mr. Garner to death.
Let’s see the videos from last night.
ARSON ! Somebody naughty set fire to it .
Hmph.
“Police said they suspected candles accidentally burned down the memorial”
Gosh…that just seems to be the case with every one of these memorials to police-murdered black folks, eh?