W on Garner decision: ‘How sad’

Former President George W. Bush said Sunday that it saddened him to see the effect a New York grand jury’s decision in the death of Eric Garner had on race relations.

Asked his initial thought on the grand jury’s decision not to indict the white police officer who killed Garner, a black man, with a chokehold, Bush said, “I thought, ‘how sad.’ ”

{mosads}“It’s sad that race continues to play such an … emotional, divisive part of life,” Bush said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” adding that the verdict from the grand jury “was hard to understand.”

Bush said it’s also sad to hear that so many people of racial minorities distrust law enforcement officers.

“Which is a shame, because law enforcement’s job is to protect everybody,” he said.

“It calls into question what needs to be done to heal, to get the country united today.”

Bush was short on ideas for what to do to heal the racial tensions when pressed by host Candy Crowley.

“It’s hard to get the emotions settled down to a point where people can say ‘let’s solve problems such as this.’ ”