Former President Bill Clinton has spoken out about the chokehold death of Eric Garner, saying the unarmed black man who was killed by police "didn't deserve to die" for selling untaxed cigarettes in New York City.
Clinton made the comments in a previously taped interview with Fusion earlier this month at the Clinton Foundation's "Future of the Americas" event,
Politico reported. The interview is being released in full on Tuesday night.
"[Garner] was obviously not well, he was overweight and vulnerable, therefore had lung problems, heart and lung problems," Clinton said, according to Politico.
"He was doing something he should not have been doing. That was illegal. He was selling untaxed cigarettes on the street in small volumes, trying to make a little extra money. But he didn't deserve to die because of that."
Clinton also reflected on race relations, saying there are "preconceptions wired into us and we have got to get beyond them." He added that there is a "divide that exists between the community and the police," Politico reported.
Protests erupted in New York after a grand jury decided not to indict the police officer responsible for killing Garner. The medical examiner had ruled his death a homicide but said his obesity and general health condition were underlying causes of his death.
In the aftermath of the decision, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the case, along with the decision not to indict the officer responsible for Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri, demonstrated that "we have allowed our criminal justice system to get out of balance."
She added, "I personally hope that these tragedies give us the opportunity to come together as a nation to find our balance again."
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