Tag: Eric Garner

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NYPD Fires Officer For Chokehold Death Of Eric Garner

New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill

From The New York Times:

The New York City police officer whose chokehold was partly blamed for Eric Garner’s death in police custody in 2014 was fired from the Police Department on Monday, ending a bitter, five-year legal battle that had cast a shadow over the nation’s largest police force and the city it protects.

The police commissioner, James P. O’Neill, dismissed the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, just over two weeks after a police administrative judge found him guilty of violating a department ban on chokeholds.

“The unintended consequence of Mr. Garner’s death must have a consequence of its own,” Mr. O’Neill said. “Therefore I agree with the deputy commissioner of trial’s legal findings and recommendations. It is clear that Daniel Pantaleo can no longer effectively serve as a New York City police officer.”

The leader of the city’s largest police union immediately denounced the decision, saying Mr. O’Neill had bowed to “anti-police extremists” and that Mr. Pantaleo’s dismissal sent a message that the city did not stand behind its officers when they make arrests.

Garner died on July 17, 2014, after Officer Pantaleo tackled him from behind, then, along with other officers, jumped on top of Garner.

Video footage of the arrest showing Garner struggling for breath and repeatedly saying — “I can’t breathe” — quickly went viral and galvanized the Black Lives Matter movement.

Garner was being arrested on charges of selling untaxed, individual cigarettes on a street corner. For that crime, he was choked to death.

After watching the video himself, O’Neill said he came to two conclusions: Garner should not have resisted arrest; and that while Pantaleo began the interaction appropriately, the officer escalated to a prohibited chokehold.

I have this to say: at the time of his death, there were four – FOUR – police officers holding Garner down.

Nine times Garner, who was unarmed, said, “I can’t breathe.”

With three other police officers with him, couldn’t Pantaleo have loosened his (prohibited) chokehold just a bit?

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No Charges For Officer Involved In Chokehold Death Of Eric Garner

(stock image via Pexels/Rosemary Ketchum)

There will be no charges for the police officer who put Eric Garner in a chokehold which ultimately led to Garner’s death five years ago.

From The New York Times:

The Justice Department will not bring federal charges against a New York City police officer in the death of Eric Garner, ending a yearslong inquiry into a case that sharply divided officials and prompted national protests over excessive force by the police, according to three people briefed on the decision.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn intend to announce the decision not to bring criminal civil rights charges on Tuesday morning, just one day before the fifth anniversary of Mr. Garner’s death. That is the deadline by which they would have to file some of the possible charges against the officer, Daniel Pantaleo.

The decision extinguishes the hopes of the Garner family and their supporters that Officer Pantaleo might face prosecution in a case that ignited demonstrations and debates over the use of force by police officers and led to changes in policing practices across the United States.

Police officers were attempting to arrest Garner for selling individual cigarettes to passersby on the street, thus avoiding sales tax, when the episode escalated ending with Pantaleo choking Garner.

Bystanders recorded the incident where Garner could be heard saying, “I can’t breathe.” But Pantaleo did not release Garner. A medical examiner concluded that the pressure on Mr. Garner’s neck and chest set off a fatal asthma attack.

Pantaleo has been on desk duty since the incident five years ago which has allowed him to continue to get paid and add time to his pension.

And from New York State Attorney General Letitia James:

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Jon Stewart On Eric Garner Case: “I Honestly Don’t Know What To Say”

Jon Stewart opened Wednesday night’s Daily Show dropping the comedy to tackle the “utterly depressing” non-indictment in the Eric Garner case. He said, “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know what to say. If comedy is tragedy plus time, I need more fucking time.”

At least with Ferguson, Stewart said, there was conflicting testimony, “but here there is none of that.” And there’s no question about unreliable witnesses because there’s video and “we are f*cking watching it.”

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NYC: Grand Jury Declines To Indict Officer Who Choked Man To Death

Just days after a grand jury declined to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, a grand jury in Staten Island has decided not to indict New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner, a black man who died after being placed in a chokehold.

Garner, 43, died July 17 while he was being arrested for selling untaxed cigarettes. In a video of the arrest, which has since gone viral, Garner screams “I can’t breathe!” multiple times until his body goes limp. A medical examiner later said that he died of a chokehold, a move that is banned by the NYPD, and ruled his death a homicide.

I’m not anti-police. I’m really not. But it’s difficult to see – given the video and the medical examiner ruling the death a homicide – how the grand jury didn’t see grounds for an indictment of involuntary manslaughter.

I don’t believe Daniel Pantaleo meant to kill Garner, but he did use a chokehold (an NYPD no-no) and he caused the man’s death, albeit by accident.

How is this not involuntary manslaughter?

Reports are now coming in that the Justice Department will investigate the death.