Hundreds of Protesters Gathered in NYC After the Eric Garner Decision

On Wednesday, protesters throughout NYC took to the streets after a grand jury in Staten Island decided not to indict the NYC police officer who killed Eric Garner in July by putting him in a choke hold. Demonstrators gathered in Times Square, blocked traffic on the West Side Highway, blocked the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, and laid on the floor of Grand Central Terminal in protest. At the time of his death, Garner, a 43-year-old black man from Staten Island, was being arrested for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes when Officer Daniel Pantaleo put him in a choke hold, which was caught on tape. His death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner.

Wednesday's protesters held up signs that read "Black lives matter" and "I can't breathe," and when President Obama addressed the grand jury decision in the death of Garner, he said, "It is incumbent upon all of us, as Americans, regardless of race, region, faith, that we recognize this is an American problem, and not just a black problem or a brown problem or a Native American problem. This is an American problem. When anybody in this country is not being treated equally under the law, that's a problem. And it's my job as president to help solve it." See some of the most powerful pictures of the NYC protests.