Shortly after the Staten Island Grand Jury announced the New York Police Department officer who killed Eric Garner by way of an illegal chokehold was not going to be indicted on any charges, Mayor Bill de Blasio made comments in regards to his concerns for his own son, according to The New York Daily News.
"I spent some time with Ben Garner, Eric's father, who is in unspeakable pain," de Blasio said on Wednesday, the Daily News reported. "I couldn't help but immediately think what it would mean to me to lose Dante. Things would never be the same again."
De Blasio visited Staten Island on Wednesday after the grand jury's decision to make his first comments about the case, according to the Daily News.
"Chirlane and I have had to talk to Dante for years about the danger that he may face ... how to take special care in any encounters he has with the police officers who are there to protect him," de Blasio added.
Chirlane McCray, De Blasio's wife, is black, and their children, the Daily News reported. Their children are Chiara and Dante.
"A good young man, a law-abiding young man, who would never think to do anything wrong, and yet, because of a history that still hangs over us, the dangers he may face - we've had to literally train him, as families have all over this city for decades, in how to take special care in any encounter he has with the police officers who are there to protect him," de Blasio said, the DailyMail.co.uk reported.
"This is now a national moment of grief, a national moment of pain and searching for a solution," de Blasio said, according to the Daily News.
"We are dealing with centuries of racism that have brought us to this day. That is how profound the crisis is."
He added, "One chapter has closed with the decision of this grand jury. There are more chapters to come."
De Blasio also said U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder had reached out and called him to discuss the case, the Daily News reported.
"They made clear that the investigation initiated by the U.S. attorney would now move forward," de Blasio said, according to the Daily News.
