Officer Who Put Eric Garner In Chokehold Was ‘Untruthful’ To Investigators, Judge Says
The New York City police officer who placed Eric Garner in a chokehold before his death was “untruthful” during interviews with investigators following the fatal encounter, a police administrative judge said in an opinion obtained by The New York Times.
Earlier this month, Judge Rosemarie Maldonado recommended that Daniel Pantaleo, one of the officers who attempted to arrest Garner in 2014 for allegedly selling illegal cigarettes in Staten Island, be fired from the NYPD. Maldonado determined that Pantaleo had not deliberately restricted Garner’s breathing but had used a banned chokehold on the man, whose repeated cry of “I can’t breathe” triggered national outrage and galvanized the Black Lives Matter movement.
Pantaleo was suspended from the department following Maldonado’s recommendation.
The Times published the judge’s 46-page opinion in full on Sunday. The document provides deeper insights into the reasons behind Maldonado’s recommendation that Pantaleo be dismissed.
Officer Daniel Pantaleo was "untruthful" when he gave N.Y.P.D. investigators his account of his fatal encounter with Eric Garner, a police administrative judge said in her ruling obtained by The New York Times: https://t.co/pWSkz2gsuM
— Ashley Southall 2020 🇺🇸 (@AshleyAtTimes) August 18, 2019
"I have come to the same conclusion on the instant facts," Judge Maldonado said, referring to Officer Pantaleo, who she said "can no longer be a New York City police officer."
Read her decision or our tl;dr – or both – here: https://t.co/pWSkz2gsuM— Ashley Southall 2020 🇺🇸 (@AshleyAtTimes) August 18, 2019
The judge said Pantaleo allegedly lied to investigators following Garner’s death and had “recklessly used force” against the man. When Pantaleo was asked by investigators to define a chokehold, he replied, “You take your two hands and you’re choking their throat or if you use your forearm grasped with the other hand and you pull back with your forearm onto the windpipe preventing him from breathing,” Maldonado wrote in her opinion, which was addressed to NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill.
But when investigators showed the officer a video that revealed how he wrapped his left forearm around Garner’s neck with his two hands clasped, Pantaleo denied that he’d used a chokehold in the encounter.
“I found [Pantaleo’s] uncorroborated hearsay statements explaining his actions to be untruthful,” Maldonado wrote.
Maldonado also took issue with the testimonies of Pantaleo’s witnesses, fellow officers Mark Ramos and Craig Furlani, who told investigators that they could not remember where Pantaleo had placed his arms on Garner during the encounter.
“The accounts presented by [Pantaleo’s] witnesses on this point were also unhelpful or unreliable,” Maldonado wrote. “In fact, the more central the factual inquiry was, the more vague recollections became.”
46-page decision from the judge who recommended Officer Pantaleo be fired from the #NYPD is leaked to the press. pic.twitter.com/QS5s3xAFNf
— Jeanine Ramirez (@RamirezJeanine) August 19, 2019
O’Neill is expected to make a decision about Pantaleo’s future by the end of the month, the Times reported.
The Justice Department said in July that it would not pursue federal civil rights charges against Pantaleo for Garner’s death.
“The DOJ has failed us,” Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, told reporters at the time. “Five years ago, my son said ‘I can’t breathe’ 11 times. Today we can’t breathe ― because they have let us down.”
"The DOJ has failed us."
Eric Garner's mother Gwen Carr speaks following Justice Dept. decision not to charge officer involved in her son's death. Watch live: https://t.co/aqE2Q96B4V— ABC News (@ABC) July 16, 2019
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.