About time ladies
New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill announced Monday that the police department is terminating the officer involved in the fatal 2014 altercation with Eric Garner, ending a five-year battle over the officer's status.
Officer Daniel Pantaleo used a chokehold on Garner, which is banned by the city's police department, O'Neill said.
The decision backs the recommendation of an NYPD administrative judge earlier this month that Pantaleo should be fired for his role in Garner's death.
In reaching the decision, O'Neill said he was putting faith in the assessment of Judge Rosemarie Maldonado, a deputy police commissioner who presided over Garner's disciplinary trial.
O'Neill heavily cited Maldonado's opinion in announcing the firing on Monday. In particular, he mentioned the finding that Pantaleo's use of the chokehold "was reckless and constituted a gross deviation from the standard of conduct established for a New York City police officer."
Garner's dying words, "I can't breathe," were recorded on bystander cellphone video and became a watershed moment in the Black Lives Matter movement.
"Every time I watch that video, I say to myself, 'Mr. Garner, don't do it, comply.' 'Mr. Pantaleo, don't do it,' " O'Neill said on Monday. "There are no victors here."
Garner, 43, was confronted on July 17, 2014, by police officers who suspected he was selling loose cigarettes on a Staten Island sidewalk. Video footage shows Garner, who was black, waving his hands in the air in protest as Pantaleo, who is white, and his partner approached. Pantaleo applied the chokehold, and Garner later died.
New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill announced Monday that the police department is terminating the officer involved in the fatal 2014 altercation with Eric Garner, ending a five-year battle over the officer's status.
Officer Daniel Pantaleo used a chokehold on Garner, which is banned by the city's police department, O'Neill said.
The decision backs the recommendation of an NYPD administrative judge earlier this month that Pantaleo should be fired for his role in Garner's death.
In reaching the decision, O'Neill said he was putting faith in the assessment of Judge Rosemarie Maldonado, a deputy police commissioner who presided over Garner's disciplinary trial.
O'Neill heavily cited Maldonado's opinion in announcing the firing on Monday. In particular, he mentioned the finding that Pantaleo's use of the chokehold "was reckless and constituted a gross deviation from the standard of conduct established for a New York City police officer."
Garner's dying words, "I can't breathe," were recorded on bystander cellphone video and became a watershed moment in the Black Lives Matter movement.
"Every time I watch that video, I say to myself, 'Mr. Garner, don't do it, comply.' 'Mr. Pantaleo, don't do it,' " O'Neill said on Monday. "There are no victors here."
Garner, 43, was confronted on July 17, 2014, by police officers who suspected he was selling loose cigarettes on a Staten Island sidewalk. Video footage shows Garner, who was black, waving his hands in the air in protest as Pantaleo, who is white, and his partner approached. Pantaleo applied the chokehold, and Garner later died.