Judge Says NYPD Officer in Eric Garner Case Should Be Fired
A judge presiding over the disciplinary trial of the NYPD officer accused of using a banned chokehold in the July 2014 death of Eric Garner has recommended the cop be fired, law enforcement sources familiar with the decision tell News 4.
This is not the final decision regarding the fate of officer Daniel Pantaleo and carries no criminal implication for the officer, whom a grand jury declined to indict and whom the Department of Justice declined to prosecute.
Next, both Pantaleo's attorney and attorneys for the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which prosecuted the case, will have an opportunity to meet with the judge to discuss the decision before it goes to NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill, who will ultimately make the decision on the officer's future. The attorneys have up to two weeks to do that, then the departmental judge sends her final findings to O'Neill, who will decide whether to fire Pantaleo or not.
Asked about the case on "The Joe Piscopo Show" Thursday, O'Neill said the department has been working since Garner's death to build community trust.
"We have the same cops, the same sectors every day. We have great detectives dealing with the crime victims," O'Neill said. "There has to be real relationships and when something does happen, those relationships are established beforehand and then the trust is there and they'll trust us they'll give us the opportunity to explain what happened."
The development comes after the U.S. Department of Justice announced July 16 -- a day before its deadline -- that it would not file civil rights or criminal charges against Pantaleo, who has been on modified duty since Garner's death.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr made the final decision in that case, an official said, adopting the recommendation of prosecutors in Brooklyn. Lawyers in the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, however, had a different view and believed charges could have been pursued, according to two officials.
Pantaleo's NYPD trial in the death of the 43-year-old Garner, whose dying words, "I can't breathe," became a rallying cry for the national movement against police brutality began May 13 and wrapped up in June.
Garner, an unarmed black man, refused to be handcuffed after police stopped him on a Staten Island street corner for allegedly selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. Pantaleo, who is white, is seen on a widely watched cellphone video putting Garner in an apparent chokehold, which is banned under NYPD policy.
Pantaleo did not face criminal charges; a grand jury opted not to indict him, prompting a series of national protests and marches. However, a judge subsequently said a disciplinary trial could proceed.
The disciplinary trial kicked off to heightened emotions as protesters swarmed a major New York City highway at the height of the morning rush, stretching a banner across the FDR condemning the officer.
During the disciplinary trial, officer William Meems, one of the officers who responded to the Eric Garner arrest scene in July 2014, testified May 21 he thought the 43-year-old father, seen on widely circulated video gasping "I can't breathe," was faking it.
Pantaleo's partner, Justin D'amico, also took the stand, testifying that he and Pantaleo waited about nine minutes before trying to arrest Garner because he was "irate." He also testified that Garner twice tried to smack his hand away.
Under cross examination, D'amico acknowledged he finished filling out Garner's arrest form even after the man was dead -- and that form charged Garner with a felony amount of cigarette sales. Garner had very few cigarettes on him when he was stopped that day, prosecutors have said.
Video showed Pantaleo put an arm around Garner's neck in an apparent chokehold; the officer's attorney, though, said in opening statements that the cop's arm was not around Garner's neck when he said "I can't breathe."
Garner died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. His death was ruled a homicide, with the medical examiner listing a chokehold as the cause of his death.
The defense has argued that Pantaleo did not use a chokehold, which is banned under NYPD policy, but an approved tactic called a "seat-belt hold" in an attempt to take Garner down. Defense lawyer Stuart London has also cited Garner's health -- hypertension, obesity, an enlarged heart -- as reasons for his death.
While the medical examiner listed those as contributing factors, the autopsy report concluded that those issues did not cause Garner to die.
On May 15, describing the chokehold as the first event in a lethal cascade of events, Dr. Floriana Persechino, the medical examiner, testified she found hemorrhages on muscles inside the neck, root of tongue and the back of his neck. She said there was a 2-inch hemorrhage in front of his larynx. The hemorrhages, she said, occurred around the time of Garner's death. She noted that she found no visible injuries under Garner's neck, but said in her medical opinion, the 43-year-old father was put in a chokehold.
Additionally, an NYPD training expert testified that the move seen on the video "meets the definition of a chokehold." That contradicts the defense's claim that Pantaleo used an approved technique called a "seat-belt hold."
However, a few weeks later, the defense brought in a key expert witness that contradicted the city's medical examiner's opinion on cause of death.
Dr. Michael Graham was one of two witnesses that testified before the defense rested its case.
Graham said a chokehold did not kill Garner because he could speak and never lost consciousness.
Graham said he believes Garner's death was caused by heart problems because "his heart disease was exacerbated by the interaction with law enforcement.”
The same day that Graham testified, the defense brought in another witness -- one who taught officer Pantaleo at the police academy -- testified the alleged chokehold seen in the famous cell phone video from the 2014 incident was instead a proper procedure called a "seatbelt" maneuver.
Pantaleo did not testify at his trial. Instead, the judge received a written transcript of his statements to internal affairs. This did not sit well with Garner's mother Gwen Carr, who was furious Pantaleo did not testify.
"Is that fair? Is that justice?" she asked those waiting outside the trial after the defense rested its case.
Subsequently, during closing arguments, London said his client wanted to keep his job.
Pantaleo's trial was highly anticipated and even brought out a federal prosecutor that sat in on the administrative trial.
The appearance of Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Geddes at a proceeding signaled that the Department of Justice still has an interest in how Garner died. Ultimately, however, the U.S. Justice Department, which had faced a July 17 deadline, the fifth anniversary of Garner's death, to decide whether to file civil rights charges against Officer Daniel Pantaleo or others involved in the fatal arrest on a Staten Island sidewalk decided to not file charges July 16. The statute of limitations on most federal charges is five years.
Garner's family received $5.9 million from the city in 2015 to settle a wrongful death claim. Federal prosecutors have until July to file civil rights charges against Pantaleo.
Photo Credit: News 4/AP Images
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