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Chokehold decision highlights complex jury process

Protesters march through the streets in response to the grand jury's decision in the Eric Garner case in Times Square in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014. The grand jury cleared a white New York City police officer Wednesday in the videotaped chokehold death of Garner, an unarmed black man, who had been stopped on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, a lawyer for the victim's family said. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) Protesters march through the streets in response to the grand jury's decision in the Eric Garner case in Times Square in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014. The grand jury cleared a white New York City police officer Wednesday in the videotaped chokehold death of Garner, an unarmed black man, who had been stopped on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, a lawyer for the victim's family said. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

By Associated Press December 4, 2014 1 min read

NEW YORK (AP) – Thousands took to the streets of Manhattan to protest a grand jury’s decision not indict a white police officer in the chokehold death of an unarmed black man.

Demonstrators laid down in Grand Central Terminal and blocked traffic on the West Side Highway Wednesday night as a police helicopter flew overhead.

Lines of police officers, some in riot gear, closely trailed the roaming groups. Protesters converged on the heavily secured area around the annual Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting.

In the Staten Island neighborhood where Garner died, people reacted with angry disbelief and chanted, “I can’t breathe!” and “Hands up – don’t choke!”

Police made arrests but the demonstrators have been mostly peaceful, in contrast to the violence and looting that followed the decision in Ferguson, Missouri.