Rand Paul blames Eric Garner's death on high NYC cigarette tax
Violence In America,Rand Paul,Eric Garner
In 2010, the New York State Legislature passed a law raising taxes on cigarettes purchased in New York City to $5.85 per pack of 20 cigarettes.
Fast-forward four years: A U.S. senator is blaming the politician that created that law for the chokehold death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man, by a white police officer in New York City in July 2014.
"I do blame the politician," Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, explained on MSNBC's "Hardball." "We put our police in a dangerous situation with bad laws."
Garner died after a police officer put him in a chokehold while trying to arrest him for selling tax-free cigarettes. The police officers at the time were unaware of Garner's pr
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