cop fatally choking Eric Garner: Graphic content

When I first set eyes on Ramsey Orta, he was sitting alone on a bicycle outside his Staten Island home.

One year aanniversary

Within hours, his video capturing Eric Garner’s death in police custody went viral — creating a firestorm of controversy that rages to this day in the June 17, 2014, arrest.



I was headed to a photo job in Brooklyn, driving through Staten Island, when a call coming over the police radio changed my plans and eventually thrust Orta into the spotlight.


The voice on the police radio called for a mobilization of cops to a crime scene. Normally, they state what kind of crime it is: shooting, stabbing, something to indicate what’s going on. In this case, they didn’t.

That kind of set off a bell. It perked up my ears.