Justice for James ‘Nate’ Greer NOW

pOn May 23, 2014, Nate Greer, dedicated husband and father,nbsp; died at the hands of the Hayward Police Department during a routine DUI traffic stop.nbsp; What began as a routine sobriety test would suddenly become a horrible tragedy for Nate when several officers from the Hayward Police Departmentnbsp;and the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART)nbsp;Police Department took it upon themselves without probable cause to physically manhandle him./p pSeveral of the police officers aggressively wrestled Nate to the ground, roughly pulling his limbs behind his body, along with several law enforcement officers physically crushing Nate with their entire body weight pressure while he lay on his stomach helpless and unable to move.nbsp; They proceeded to place Nate into a straightjacket-like restraint device after he had been tasered multiple times./p pThe law enforcement officers continued to lay on top ofnbsp;Natersquo;s body, holding him down on the ground for a prolonged period.nbsp; After several minutes passed, they noticed that Nate was unconscious with breathing trouble, however they continued to put the restraints onto him.nbsp; As Nate lay there for nearly seven minutes struggling to breathe, the police officers did nothing as they chose not to perform any CPR on Nate nor did they untie him from the restraints so that the arriving EMT personnel at the scene could immediately provide him life saving emergency care.nbsp;/p pWhile our black and brown communities throughout the Bay Area, in California, across the nation and throughout the world continue to be plagued by police brutality, Natersquo;s murder by law enforcement in Hayward, California had gone virtually unnoticed two years ago in May 2014, having been intentionally silenced in the mainstream TV/radio news media up until the release of a video from a police cam worn on one of the BART police officers, depicting the incident of a defenseless Nate struggling to breathe./p pNearly two years to the day of Natersquo;s murder by the police, on May 21, 2016, a video of the incident surfaced, which documentednbsp;the sequence of actionsnbsp;filmed by BART Police body camerasnbsp;that led to Natersquo;s untimely death.nbsp; The video clearly exhibited that Nate was no threat to the police.nbsp; In the video, although Nate never displayed any aggression of any sort toward the police officers, he could be heard asking numerous times for the officers to get off of him, followed by agonizing screams for a few minutes before losing consciousness./p pHerersquo;s the script from the body cam video of the incident that had gone unnoticed for more than a year, which has now brought much-needed attention to Natersquo;s death while he was in police custody:/p pThe video shows Nate cooperating and not being combative, communicating with the officer about his medical conditions that may affect his ability to perform a roadside sobriety test./p pNate begins to perform the test, placing his feet together and holding his head back with his eyes closed when henbsp;notices a second cop standing to his right./p pSuddenly, Nate appears afraid, telling Police Officer #1 in front of him../p pNate:nbsp; ldquo;emWhat are you guys going to do to me? I donrsquo;t understand, I donrsquo;t understand.rdquo;/em/p pPolice Officer #1 (replies):emnbsp; ldquo;Irsquo;m testing your balance to see how much you had to drink tonight,rdquo;/em/p pnbsp;Nate (responds):nbsp; ldquo;I havenrsquo;t drank nothing,rdquo;/p pPolice Officer #1:nbsp; emldquo;Irsquo;m trying to give you a field sobriety test,rdquo;/em/p pNate takes a step to his left./p pPolice Officer #1: (suddenly grabbing Natersquo;s wrist):nbsp; emldquo;Donrsquo;t be walking away from me!rdquo; /em/p pNate (asking the Officer in a worried voice tone):nbsp; emldquo;Hey, what are you guys doing to me?rdquo;/em/p pImmediately, several other police officers begin physically grabbing onto Natersquo;s body./p pnbsp;Police Officer #2: (with his arm grasped around Natersquo;s neck):nbsp; emldquo;Relax.rdquo;/em/p pImmediately, the police officers quickly knock Nate to the ground, laying Nate onto his back./p pNate (repeating in a winded-sounding voice tone):nbsp; emldquo;What are you doing???rdquo;/em/p pMore Hayward police officers joined by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officers proceed to roll Nate over onto his stomach, ordering him to place his hands behind his back, however it appeared that Nate was trying to use his hands to keep his face from being smashed into the ground./p pThe police officers then proceed to taser Nate several times before managing to get one of his hands into handcuffs while ordering him to place his other hand behind his back ndash; all while several police officers are physically piled on top of him with their total body weight./p pThe police officers kept telling Nate to emldquo;relaxrdquo; /emeven though it would be impossible to relax in that situation, feeling asphyxiated by the weight of the several police officers who were laying on top him as one of the police officers shoved Natersquo;s head into the asphalt as he continued to breathe heavy, asking why were they treating him that way while attempting to position his head to where he could breathe./p pAfter ten minutes into the traffic stop, Nate had relaxed to the point where he was no longer moving or speaking./p pBut the police officers still continued to keep their bodies piled on top of Nate with one police officer still holding Natersquo;s head down with his hand./p pPolice Officer #3: emldquo;Yoursquo;re doing all right bro?hellip;ldquo;Just take a deep breath.rdquo;/em/p pBut by this time, it appeared Nate had stopped breathinghellip;/p pPolice Officer #4 (after rolling a now unconscious Nate back over onto his back):nbsp; emldquo;Hersquo;s unconscious.rdquo; /em/p pAt this point, all of the police officers got off of Natersquo;s body, about ten police officers in all, each of them asking the other if they nbsp;were okay, laughing and joking about what an intense struggle they had just gone through, comparing scratches on each otherrsquo;s arms, hands and elbows./p pAnother Police Officer (who had been laying on top of Natersquo;s body) then tells Natersquo;s lifeless body to emldquo;wake up!rdquo;/em/p pBART Police Officer with the body cam on (asks his BART Police Supervisor):emnbsp; ldquo;Irsquo;m rolling by the way, want me to turn it off?rdquo;/em/p pBART Police Supervisor:nbsp; emldquo;Yeah, thatrsquo;s fine,rdquo;/em/p pAt this point, the BART Police Officerrsquo;s body cam is shut off./p pHowever in October 2015, anbsp;wrongful death lawsuitnbsp;wasnbsp;filed in the Federal Court for the Northern District of California by Greerrsquo;s son, Joseph James against both the Hayward Police Department and the BART Police Department. Natersquo;s family and community members continue to demand answersnbsp;as tonbsp;why no investigation had ever been conducted by the Hayward Police Department or at the District Attorney of Alameda Countyrsquo;s Office following thenbsp;brutal actions and subsequent neglect inflicted upon Nate by both the Hayward Police Department and the BART Police Department./p pa href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7427M-TrWj4"PNN-TV Justice4NateGreer-Oscar Salinas/a/p pa href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSrcFGOBkUI"PNN-TV Say His Name! Nate Greer!/a/p pa href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_NOdHW8-Lc"PNN-TV JusticeForNateGreer #2/a/p pa href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx3VStnPnaQ"PNN-TV JusticeForNateGreer #3/a/p pnbsp;/p