He was selling goods for money. There's nothing dishonest about that. There's no indication he stole the cigarettes or did anything dishonestly. And even if he was a scumbag, that has nothing to do with anything. Scumbags are entitled to equal protection under the law.
If there was no tax on cigarettes, we would not have to do that. It's like walking through a bad neighborhood in a short skirt or with a visible wad of money. Getting robbed and raped is not fair, it is not right, you didn't deserve that and you should not have had to suffer that loss...but that would not have happened without your risky behavior in the first place.

And yes, that totally goes for Garner as well. I would not have given a dime to his family had I been running things in New York, but as the sort of person who does not go around trying to police whatever people want to put in their own bodies, I am obviously ill-suited to hold any sort of power in New York.

Bad health, and poor decision-making that were only fatal because he was being picked on by a squad of cops because apparently all the rapists, muggers and purveyors of drugs that are actually illegal had gone home for the day, so there were no lives or livelihoods for the NYPD to be protecting.

The man died because of the state's obscene interest in private activities and transactions. Better the state pay, than foisting the blame on their henchmen who were only following orders. I am totally in agreement with the cops' innocence in the matter (to a degree - he should have been raised up as soon as he was cuffed. Once someone is a prisoner, his captors have a moral obligation to his health & well-being, because they have abrogated his ability to care for himself), but they should never have been in that position. The only people who deserve to die for their actions are daredevils, abortionists, military criminals, some child molesters and of course, actual murderers that mostly everyone agrees on.