Moms speak out

Their sons slain by cops, they seek reform

Mothers whose sons were killed by police joined forces in Harlem on Tuesday to push for guidelines to reduce use-of-force deaths.

The mothers of Eric Garner, Amadou Diallo and Philando Castile signed off, at an event at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, on a “tool kit” that aims to curb officer-involved fatalities.

The guidelines, commissioned by John Jay College of Criminal Justice’s Institute for Innovation in Prosecution, call for reducing use of force, ensuring transparent investigations and strengthening state laws to hold cops accountable.

The tool kit, developed by a coalition of victims, police chiefs, prosecutors and activists, will use data to factor the role of race in police violence and will help develop partnerships between communities and law enforcement.

“We must not only look at this tool kit, it must be implemented,” said Gwen Carr, whose son Eric Garner, 43, died in 2014 when cops arresting him for allegedly selling loose, untaxed cigarettes on Staten Island put him in a chokehold.

His last words, “I can’t breathe,” became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement.

“It must go around to the district attorney’s office, everyone who it can help,” Carr said of the tool kit. “We can’t just sit back and do nothing. We must save our children.”

Carr was joined by Kadiatou Diallo, whose son Amadou was fatally shot by cops in the Bronx who mistook his wallet for a gun in 1999. He was struck by 19 of the 41 shots fired.

The event also drew Valerie Castile, whose son Philando was shot to death in 2016 by a police officer in Minnesota during a traffic stop.