Dozens of Congressional staffers walked out of Congress this afternoon due to the “no indictment” verdicts in both Michael Brown and Eric Garner’s cases. The staffers stood on the steps of the Capitol to protest and show their solidarity for Brown and Garner’s families.

Background:

A Ferguson, MO grand jury failed to indict officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown. Michael Brown was reported as walking with his friend, minding his business, when Wilson pulled up on the two in his vehicle. Wilson then cursed at the boys for walking in the middle of the street before pulling off, and then making a U-turn to address the boys again. Wilson pulled out his gun which prompted Brown and his friend to run. Eventually, Brown stopped running, turned around and put his hands up, which is the universal tactic to surrender. He was not admitting guilt for anything by surrendering. Rather, he wanted Wilson to stop shooting at him. Brown was unarmed; however, Wilson kept firing shots until Brown fell to the ground. According to several witnesses, Wilson senselessly and blatantly murdered Brown, but the grand jury refused to indict him.

Days later, it was revealed that Daniel Pantaleo, the officer that put Eric Garner in an illegal chokehold, would not be indicted in Garner’s death as ruled by a Staten Island, NY grand jury. Garner was standing on a sidewalk, minding his business, when officers approached him on the suspicion that Garner was illegally selling cigarettes. Garner insisted that he was doing nothing wrong and asked why he was being approached. Seconds later, Pantaleo jumped on Garner and wrapped his arm around Garner’s neck. Garner said, repeatedly, “I can’t breathe” before he eventually passed on. Despite the fact that everything was caught on tape, and the officer technically broke the law, the grand jury still refused to indict Pantaleo.