Bush: Garner Verdict 'Hard to Understand'

Former president discusses reaction to chokehold video
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 6, 2014 3:49 PM CST
Bush: Garner Verdict 'Hard to Understand'
Former president George W. Bush signs copies of his book "41: A Portrait of My Father."   (AP Photo/The Columbus Dispatch, Jonathan Quilter)

George W. Bush has weighed in on the controversy surrounding the chokehold death of Eric Garner, calling a grand jury's decision not to indict police officer Daniel Pantaleo "hard to understand." In a CNN interview, Candy Crowley asked Bush about his reaction to video showing Garner's struggle with police. "I thought, 'How sad,'" Bush said. "You know, the verdict was hard to understand, but I hadn't seen all the details. But it's sad that race continues to play such an emotional, divisive part of life."

He recounted a conversation he said he had recently had with Condoleezza Rice. "She just said, 'You gotta understand that there are a lot of black folks that are incredibly, more and more, distrusting of law enforcement,'" he said. "Which is a shame, because law enforcement's job is to protect everybody." (More Eric Garner stories.)

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