Judge and Jury

To the Editor:

How dare Catholic New York put itself in the position of judge and jury to a young NYC police officer (Dec. 11, Page 1).

I certainly would not be so upset if you had asked for prayers for the unfortunate situation, or prayers for everyone involved in the situation or hoped for peace in New York City. How dare you write a complete lie. The officer stated he was trying to do a legal “takedown” move on a person resisting lawful arrest, not a chokehold. Yet the “staff writers of Catholic New York” think they had the right to write this statement as if if were a fact: “A Staten Island police officer, Joseph Pantaleo, used his nightstick to place a chokehold July 17 on Garner...” 

It is only after you wrote that did you mention a few paragraphs down what the officer and his union stated. Where is your humanity? Don’t you realize no police officer wants to ever hurt anyone, they just want to do their job and keep the citizens of New York City safe. Yes, I pray for the Garner family and I pray for peace in NYC but I also pray for Officer Pantaleo and all police officers.

Mary McCormick 

Pearl River