What Happened to the Witnesses

"Filming police killings can have long-lasting consequences. Four who did tell their stories."

- By Camille Squires. Photography by Joshua Rashaad McFadden

Ramsey Orta filmed the killing of his friend Eric Garner outside a Staten Island beauty store at 3:30 p.m. on July 17, 2014.

Ramsey Orta was a friend of Eric Garner’s for five years. He watched as police officers Justin D’Amico and Daniel Pantaleo stopped Garner and attempted to arrest him on July 17, 2014. He was recording as Pantaleo held Garner in a chokehold that was banned by the NYPD and as his friend uttered his final words: “I can’t breathe.” Orta has since had a series of run-ins with the judicial system, facing numerous arrests and serving prison time on drug and gun charges. Orta alleges that police have been trying to get revenge on him. In 2021, Orta published a book, A Shot in History: the Poisoned System.

I had just gotten home from work, and from picking up my daughter, and was on my way to get something to eat when I ran into Eric at a KFC. I got my food and walked outside to where he was, and stopped to ask him for a pack of cigarettes. We started talking. In the midst of that conversation, a fight breaks out between two people. He jumps up and separates them and, as he’s doing that, two police ride over and immediately jump out and go straight to Eric while the other two people walk off like nothing happened.

Eric asked Officer Justin D’Amico, “What happened? Why did you stop me?” D’Amico said he just saw him sell cigarettes. Then Eric just started screaming, saying he was crazy, he was lying, and telling him to get out of here.