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Eric Garner death cop Daniel Pantaleo fired for chokehold that killed unarmed black man and led to ‘I can’t breathe’ movement
THE New York City police officer who used a deadly chokehold to kill an unarmed black man has been fired, five years after his arrest.
Father-of-six Eric Garner, 43, died after he was illegally restrained by Daniel Pantaleo, 34, during an arrest over suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes.
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Video footage of the 2014 incident and Garner's dying gasps of "I can't breathe" fuelled nationwide protests and debate over race and police brutality.
Pantaleo initially escaped criminal prosecution but was fired on Monday by Police Commissioner James O'Neill.
O'Neill said his decision was based on a recent recommendation of a department disciplinary judge.
The Commissioner said he thought Pantaleo's use of the banned chokehold as he wrestled with Garner was a mistake that could have been made by any officer in the heat of an arrest.
However, he acknowledged it was clear Pantaleo had broken department rules and should have relaxed his grip once Garner was on the ground.
He called Garner's death an "irreversible tragedy" that "must have a consequence" meaning Pantaleo "can no longer effectively serve as a New York City police officer."
He told reporters: "None of us can take back our decisions ... especially when they lead to the death of another human being."
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the firing means that "justice was served."
He said he hoped the decision would let the city, the department and Garner's family move forward.
The Democrat added: "Today will not bring Eric Garner back, but I hope it brings some small measure of closure to the Garner family."
Pantaleo's lawyer Stuart London has said the officer used a reasonable amount of force and didn't mean to hurt Garner.
He told reporters on Monday that Pantaleo intends to appeal Commissioner O'Neill's decision to terminate him under Article 78, a New York civil code that sets a path for challenges to rulings by a government agency.
London said: "After the Article 78, if we need to appeal beyond that we will. We are looking for him to get his job back."
London said Pantaleo had been promised a pension for his 13 years but that police brass later reneged on those assurances.
FAMILY'S RESPONSE
Garner's daughter thanked Commissioner O'Neill for firing Pantaleo.
Emerald Snipes Garner said Monday she wanted to thank O'Neill "for doing the right thing", but said her family's fight for justice "is not over."
She declared:"I should not be here standing with my brother, fatherless."
Garner said her family wants to see action taken against the other officers who were present when Pantaleo tried to arrest her father.
And she said she wants to see an "Eric Garner Law" passed that would make police chokeholds illegal.
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'THE JOB IS DEAD'
The head of New York City's main police union has criticised the police commissioner's decision and declared that "the job is dead!"
Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said Commissioner O'Neill "has chosen politics and his own self-interest over the police officers he claims to lead."
Eric Garner died after being placed in a chokehold by Pantaleo during an arrest.
Lynch said O'Neill "will wake up tomorrow to discover that the cop-haters are still not satisfied, but it will be too late."
He added that the decision would undermine morale and cause officers to hesitate to use force for fear they could be fired.
Lynch called Pantaleo an "exemplary" officer and called for union members to participate in a no-confidence vote on the mayor and commissioner.
He urged: "It's absolutely essential that the world know that the New York City Police Department is rudderless and frozen."
"The leadership has abandoned ship and left our police officers on the street alone, without backing.";
THE NIGHT OF JULY 17, 2014
The confrontation between Garner and police occurred on July 17 of 2014 in the Tompkinsville neighbourhood of Staten Island.
Police relations have long been strained in the area.
Pantaleo and other officers entered the area around Tompkinsville Park to crack down on "quality of life" crimes.
Neighbours had been avoiding the park, complaining of drug dealing, drug usage and people getting drunk, urinating and passing out on the benches, Police Commissioner James O'Neill said.
Garner, an imposing figure of 6-foot-3 and 395 pounds, was across the street from the park when he refused to show his identification to police and then resisted arrest.
He was said to be a hustler of "loose" cigarettes, which are sold individually and untaxed.
He died after Pantaleo wrestled him to the ground using a prohibited chokehold.
Cellphone video footage of the arrest was viewed millions of times online and drew outrage.
The footage showed Garner and Pantaleo lurching against a glass storefront window and then falling to the pavement.
Garner appeared distressed gasping, "I can't breathe," at least 11 times before he fell unconscious.
FIVE YEARS OF PROTESTS
Garner's death came at a time of a growing public outcry over police killings of unarmed black men.
It sparked the national Black Lives Matter movement to denounce repeated cases of police deadly force against unarmed black men across the United States.
When a state grand jury on Staten Island declined to indict Pantaelo in December of that year, protesters poured into the streets by the thousands.
Angry protesters vented frustration that criminal charges against officers using deadly force remained rare, even with video evidence.
Then, a few days before Christmas, a man upset about the Garner and Brown cases fatally shot two New York City police officers as they sat in their cruiser in Brooklyn.
Those killings, in turn, gave fire to the Blue Lives Matter counter-movement, with police union officials arguing that the heated rhetoric against officers was making them unsafe.
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Weeks later, protests erupted in Ferguson, Missouri, over the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
Another white police officer Darren Wilson escaped charges for killing the unarmed black teen.
Throughout the fall of 2014, demonstrators chanted "I can't breathe" as they marched against police brutality in multiple US cities.
President Barack Obama said at the time that he was “not going to let up” in the battle to calm the racial tensions between the police and ethnic minorities across the country.
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