QUEENS, NY – Borough President Melinda Katz stated the following in response to the grand jury’s decision today in the death of Eric Garner:

“My heart and prayers are with the family of Eric Garner, especially with his surviving six children. There is immeasurable value to every life and gravity in any loss of it. The repeated occurrences of these tragedies in our city and across the country cannot be ignored and demands action. We as a greater New York family must actively work together throughout our communities toward a higher path of reform and justice, to which I am fully committed. The current state of relations between many communities and the police, which is one of fractured trust, must be deemed unacceptable in a city as great as ours. Just as the fate of the officer was in this grand jury’s hands, so is the fate of community and police relations in ours at this critical moment.”