(Newswire.net — February 20, 2015) — Eric Garner died from a chokehold at the hands of a New York police officer last year. Several funds emerged instantly, aiming to help Garner’s family overcome the rough times.
Within several months the ‘Eric Garner Family Support Fund’ raised close to $75,000. ‘Fund for the Children of Eric Garner’ raised more than $44,000 and two GoFundMe campaigns – one to ‘Help Eric Garner’s Widow’ ($1,675) and another ‘Support for Esaw Garner’ fund ($9,301) also raised significant funds, along many other online campaigns.
The family, however, claims they don’t know where the money is from these 19 crowd-funding projects, according to a new report by DNAinfo.
“I feel like people are trying to use my father’s name for their own gain,” Erica Garner, 24, told the website. She said she’s looking into legal action against the various campaigns not affiliated with the family. “It’s unfortunately a sad situation.”
One of the GoFundMe campaigns, put up by an advocacy group called the Charlotte Activist Collective, aimed to raise $1 million for Garner’s widow, Esaw Snipes in “Support for Esaw Garner” campaign. Organizers claim that they are in constant touch with Esaw Garner who supports their fundraising efforts.
Reportedly, DNA info tried to reach Snipes herself for comment, but she couldn’t be reached. They did, however, talk with Erica Garner and her grandmother Gwen Carr, who said they had never heard of the fund. A spokeswoman for GoFundMe declined to comment, but said the Garner family could contact the website directly.
Also, DNAinfo tried to get in touch with officials from the Charlotte Activist Collective, which has only raised $9,301 of the total desired, however, they didn’t respond to emails and messages, DNAinfo reported.
Meanwhile, another fund started by Andrew Doty, book editor from St. Louis, said Fundly has kept the money while he worked out which Garner representative to send it to. According to Doty, he was bombarded by calls from people claiming they were relatives but he has contacted the family’s lawyer Jonathan Moore to “dole it out,” DNAinfo reported.
In addition to this story, James Robertson, the ‘Detroit Walking Man’ who trekked 21 miles to and from work each day, has said that he has received death threats and hat his girlfriend and her ex-husband started pressuring him for a payday – even though he hasn’t received the money yet. He said he even has to move under police protection as he starts getting death threats after the story of him getting a brand new 2015 Ford Taurus and a $350,000 donation hit the front pages.