Five years after applying an illegal chokehold to Eric Garner, police officer Daniel Pantaleo has been fired from the New York Police Department. A senior law enforcement official confirmed to The Daily Beast Pantaleo’s dismissal.
On Monday, New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill will announce the firing of Pantaleo. The firing comes as a result of finding Pantaleo violated a policy of restraining Garner with a prohibited chokehold, which led to his death.
The termination comes after an internal disciplinary trial produced the recommendation from an administrative judge. Pantaleo was stated to have been “untruthful” and “recklessly used force.”
Previously the extent of punishment for Pantaleo was desk duty, as he was not charged with a violation of Garner’s civil rights or indicted. The decision of O’Neil is the final decision in the tenure of Pantaleo as an officer.
Pantaleo was in a group of NYPD officers who confronter Garner in July of 2014 while he was allegedly selling “loose” cigarettes. Attempting to move away from the officers surrounding him, Pantaleo placed Garner in a chokehold that had been banned in 1993. Garner would yell “I can’t breathe” multiple times through the incident, he would go on to die shortly after arriving at a hospital. A medical examiner referred to his death as a “lethal cascade of events,” which were sparked by the chokehold and led to cardiac arrest.
