WASHINGTON
President Barack Obama said a grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer for using a fatal chokehold against an unarmed black man "speaks to the larger issues" debated for decades in the U.S.
A New York grand jury declined on Wednesday to file criminal charges against New York Police Department officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man, in July.
"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," Obama said at the closing session of the 2014 White House Tribal Nations Conference.
The 43-year-old Garner died in July in the borough of Staten Island during his arrest for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes.
In a video uploaded to the Internet that went viral, Garner, who had asthma, was heard shouting "I can't breathe," while Pantaleo, 29, was clearly seen placing him in a chokehold.
The New York decision comes on the heels of last week’s Missouri grand jury's decision not to prosecute another white officer in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, less than a month after Garner was killed.
The issue "speaks to the larger issues" debated for decades in the U.S., Obama said, referring to U.S. racial tensions.
"That is the concern on the part of too many minority communities that law enforcement is not working with them and dealing with them in a fair way," Obama said.
Garner’s death, along with the Aug. 9 shooting of 18-year-old unarmed black teen Michael Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson, ignited a debate about race relations and police brutality across the United States.
It is expected to add to the already high tensions on New York City streets, which have seen demonstrations almost every day since the Missouri verdict.
Protests are widely expected throughout the city Wednesday evening.
Earlier this week, the Obama administration said it was working on plan to help end racial profiling for good in the U.S.
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