(Bloomberg) -- New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill fired a white police officer for the 2014 choking of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man whose death while under arrest helped ignite the national Black Lives Matter movement.
O’Neill acted on the Aug. 2 recommendation of NYPD Administrative Law Judge Rosemary Maldonado, who had ruled that Patrolman Daniel Pantaleo, 34, had been untruthful when he denied using a prohibited chokehold to subdue Garner, 43, on a Staten Island sidewalk while arresting him for selling loose untaxed cigarettes.
A video widely viewed on the Internet showed Pantaleo, a 13-year veteran of the force, choking Garner as he repeatedly cried, “I can’t breathe.” Pantaleo’s denials had been “implausible and self-serving,” according to Maldonado’s 46-page opinion obtained by the New York Times.
The deaths of Garner and Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, served as flash points prompting nationwide demonstrations. Protesters have marched in New York City, disrupting traffic and speaking out on the steps of City Hall on several occasions. The protests reached a peak months after the Staten Island incident when a grand jury declined to file criminal charges against Pantaleo.
De Blasio’s handling of the incident has drawn unwelcome national attention to his record as mayor as he embarked on a long-shot presidential campaign. During a July 31 televised debate among Democratic candidates, rivals said he should have fired Pantaleo five years ago. Demonstrators disrupted the debate shouting “Fire Pantaleo!” and “I can’t breathe!” until they were removed from the audience.
Several of the mayor’s past backers traveled to Detroit to participate in the debate protest, providing more evidence that the case had weakened him with his core of support among black voters.
To contact the reporter on this story: Henry Goldman in New York at hgoldman@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flynn McRoberts at fmcroberts1@bloomberg.net, Stacie Sherman
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