Daniel Pantaleo, the New York City police officer seen on video using a chokehold during Eric Garner’s deadly arrest five years ago, sparking mass protests, was fired by the department, the police commissioner said Monday.
An administrative judge this month recommended that Pantaleo be terminated over the July 17, 2014, confrontation as Garner was being arrested on Staten Island for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes.
Pantaleo, who has been with the NYPD since 2006, was suspended as soon as that departmental verdict was reached, in keeping with long-standing practice when there is a recommendation for firing. The 13-year veteran had been on desk duty as his case made its way through legal and administrative circles.
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The NYPD’s No. 2 official, First Deputy Commissioner Benjamin Tucker, accepted the judge’s ruling that Pantaleo should be fired, two law enforcement officials familiar with the case told NBC New York last week.
Tucker reviewed the findings and had passed them on to Commissioner James O’Neill for his final review, sources said. Tucker reportedly found no new evidence to reverse the judge’s decision.
Patrick J. Lynch, president of the city’s Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, warned O’Neill that Pantaleo’s termination would be a morale blow to his members.
“He will lose his police department,” Lynch had said.
A Staten Island grand jury declined to indict Pantaleo and, earlier this summer, the Justice Department said it would not bring federal civil rights or criminal charges against the NYPD officer.
Pantaleo was among two officers who were initially confronting Garner, 43, about his alleged sale of cigarettes in an incident captured on bystander Ramsey Orta’s cellphone.
As back-up arrived, Pantaleo jumped on Garner’s back, wrapped his left forearm around the suspect’s neck and rode him to the pavement.
Four other officers came to assist Pantaleo, as he shoved Garner’s face into the sidewalk, all while the 6-foot-2, roughly 400-pound man repeatedly pleaded: “I can’t breathe.”
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York ruled Garner’s death a homicide based on compression of his neck and chest. Though the forensic investigators also said Garner’s acute and chronic bronchial asthma, obesity and heart disease were contributing factors.
About five months after Garner’s death, a Staten Island grand jury declined to indict Pantaleo based on the evidence presented by the office of then-District Attorney Dan Donovan.
The borough’s top prosecutor, Donovan, insisted he presented all the evidence — though transcripts of grand jury proceedings have never been released.
Earlier this summer, federal prosecutors ended their five-year-long probe of the matter and elected not to pursue any civil rights charges against Pantaleo. Attorney General William Barr made the final decision not to charge Pantaleo, choosing to follow recommendations of Brooklyn prosecutors, a senior Justice Department official told NBC News in July.
At Pantaleo’s departmental trial, his defense insisted the officer did not employ a chokehold, which is banned by the NYPD. Instead, Pantaleo’s defense argued he was using “seatbelt” move, wrapping arms around a suspect’s shoulders to bring an arrest.
“I can’t breathe” became a rallying call for protests that summer by Black Lives Matter activists.
Garner’s death came less than a month before Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old African American man, was fatally shot by police Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri.
Garner and Brown’s deaths became flashpoints for coast-to-coast protests against police brutality and systemic racism. Staffers working for members of the Congressional Black Caucus staged a walkout on Dec. 11, 2014, in protest of Garner and Brown’s deaths — and the lack of local prosecution of the police officers involved.
