Title : NYPD union president slams judge's recommendation to fire Daniel Pantaleo over Eric Garner's death
link : NYPD union president slams judge's recommendation to fire Daniel Pantaleo over Eric Garner's death
NYPD union president slams judge's recommendation to fire Daniel Pantaleo over Eric Garner's death
Eric Garner chokehold cop 'did nothing wrong', NYPD union says: President slams judge's 'horrendous' recommendation to fire Daniel Pantaleo for the 2014 death and claims it is 'taking away police power'
- Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch has slammed a judge’s recommendation to fire Officer Daniel Pantaleo over the death of Eric Gardner
- Lynch urged the department’s commissioner to ignore administrative judge Rosemary Maldonado’s guidance, calling it an infringement on police rights
- He went on to call the recommendation ‘horrendous’, adding that it would be a grave mistake for Police Commissioner James O’Neill to follow it
- Pantaleo’s lawyer, Stuart London, also joined Lynch of stage and expressed his client’s ‘disappointment’ over Maldonado’s opinion
- London say’s Pantaleo intends to ‘keep fighting’ and remains ‘quietly optimistic’ that he will retain his job within the department
- Eric Garner died after Pantaleo put him in a chokehold during a 2014 arrest. The unarmed black man uttered, 'I can't breathe,' times before he passed out
The president of New York’s biggest police union has slammed a judge’s recommendation to fire Officer Daniel Pantaleo over the death of Eric Gardner who lost consciousness and later died shortly after being placed in a chokehold in 2014.
Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch urged the department’s commissioner to ignore administrative judge Rosemary Maldonado’s guidance.
‘He’s done nothing wrong,’ Lynch defiantly declared of Pantaleo's actions. ‘Let’s not worry about what the criminal justice advocates will say tomorrow. That’s not justice. Have the courage to do what’s right.
'Don’t listen to the mobs. Don’t listen to the editorials,' he continued frantically waving a solitary finger. 'You need to listen to the facts.’
Lynch went on to call the recommendation ‘horrendous’, adding that it would be a grave mistake for Police Commissioner James O’Neill to follow it, citing concerns of setting a dangerous precedent.
Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch urged the department’s commissioner to ignore administrative judge Rosemary Maldonado’s guidance
Eric Garner died after Pantaleo put him in a chokehold during a 2014 arrest. The unarmed black man uttered, 'I can't breathe,' some 11 times before he lost consciousness
‘He will lose his police department,’ Lynch warned the commissioner. ‘To say a police officer doing his job was reckless will freeze this police department. The police department is frozen.’
Lynch added that he believes the judge’s advice, if followed, would make officers of the law expendable by 'taking away [their] power'.
‘He’s done nothing wrong,’ Lynch defiantly declared about Daniel Pantaleo (above). ‘Let’s not worry about what the criminal justice advocates will say tomorrow. That’s not justice. Have the courage to do what’s right. Don’t listen to the mobs. Don’t listen to the editorials. You need to listen to the facts’
‘A police officer has no other choice but to enforce that law,’ Lynch said. ‘We can’t just walk away. It’s not called de-escalation it’s called doing your job.
‘The decision that was passed down today saying this police officer was reckless was ludicrous,’ Lynch said. ‘We’ll be considered reckless every time we put our hands on someone.’
The NYPD PBA President acknowledged the suffering of the Garner family, but said that police officers have also suffered as well.
‘Cops are in the position of protecting themselves rather than protecting you,’ he concluded.
Pantaleo’s lawyer, Stuart London, also joined Lynch of stage and expressed his client’s ‘disappointment’ over Maldonado’s opinion.
However, London say’s Pantaleo intends to ‘keep fighting’ and remains ‘quietly optimistic’ that he will retain his job within the department.
‘He wants to fight going forward,’ London said. ‘He was obviously not happy with the decision. He’s a strong individual. He understands this was going to be the toughest road because of politics.’
Lynch went on to call the recommendation ‘horrendous’, adding that it would be a grave mistake for Police Commissioner James O’Neill to follow it, citing concerns of setting an unwelcome precedent
Pantaleo’s lawyer, Stuart London, also joined Lynch of stage and expressed his client’s ‘disappointment’ over Maldonado’s opinion
Cell phone video shot by Garner's friend, Ramsey Orta, showed Pantaleo taking Garner to the ground after he and another officer confronted him over suspicions he was selling loose, untaxed cigarettes outside a Staten Island convenience store
Rosemarie Maldonado, a deputy police commissioner who oversees disciplinary hearings, reached her verdict after overseeing officer Daniel Pantaleo's disciplinary trial earlier this year.
Maldonado had been tasked with deciding whether Pantaleo used a banned chokehold to take Garner to the ground during a tense confrontation on a Staten Island street.
Pantaleo's lawyers had argued he used an approved 'seat belt' technique to subdue Garner, who refused to be handcuffed after officers accused him of selling untaxed cigarettes.
His legal team will now have about two weeks to submit a response before Police Commissioner James O'Neill makes a final decision on punishment.
Pantaleo had been on desk duty since the 2014 incident.
Videos taken by bystanders showed Garner crying out 'I can't breathe' at least 11 times before he fell unconscious. The medical examiner's office said a chokehold contributed to Garner's death.
Following the announcement, Mayor Bill de Blasio held a press conference where he admitted that the Garner family has been 'failed by this entire process'.
'It has been a very long five years with no sense of closure, no sense of justice,' de Blasio said.
'I hope that this will now bring the Garner family a sense of closure and the beginning of some peace.'
Following the announcement, Mayor Bill de Blasio (pictured) held a press conference where he admitted that the Garner family has been 'failed by this entire process'
De Blasio said that his administration has worked for the last five years to 'fundamentally change the nature of policing in New York City'.
He noted that after Garner's death, 36,000 officers were retrained to 'deescalate conflict'.
'Safety and fairness must walk hand in hand and I hope today begins the process of restoring some faith in helping people believe that there actually is some accountability and fairness. We have a lot more work to do.
'There can never be another tragedy like this. It's in our power to do something better and to do something different. That is the course we set five years ago and that's the course we will stay on,' the mayor added.
De Blasio would not say whether or not he believed that Pantaleo should be fired.
Fred Davie, the chairman of the review board that served as the prosecutor, said: 'Today's decision confirms what the Civilian Complaint Review Board always has maintained: Officer Daniel Pantaleo committed misconduct on July 17, 2014, and his actions caused the death of Eric Garner,' said Fred Davie, chairman of the review board that served as the prosecutor.
Pantaleo's lawyer, Stuart London, is expected to speak Friday afternoon. Members of Garner's family are also expected to attend a rally with the Rev Al Sharpton.
Last month, Richard Donoghue (pictured), US attorney for eastern New York, said an exhaustive investigation found 'insufficient evidence' to prove 'beyond a reasonable doubt' that Pantaleo acted 'willfully' when applying a chokehold
Tina Luongo, the attorney-in-charge of the Criminal Defense Practice at The Legal Aid Society, called out Mayor Bill de Blasio.
'With this ruling, Mayor Bill de Blasio has no more excuses to avoid what his Administration should have done five years ago: he must fire NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo and all the other officers involved in Eric Garner’s killing,' Luongo said in a statement.
'The Mayor’s handling of this entire process has been politically motivated and opaque, and it only served to reinforce mistrust and sow further division between the NYPD and over-policed communities of color.
'Any opportunity for justice was lost by unnecessary secrecy and delay. This Administration’s failure to act has caused tremendous heartache, pain, and trauma that no family should endure and relive on a daily basis. The Mayor must finally do what is moral and just,' Luongo continued.
Last month, the day before the fifth anniversary of Garner's death, federal prosecutors announced they would not bring criminal charges against Pantaleo, 33, following a five-year civil rights investigation.
Richard Donoghue, the US attorney for eastern New York, said that an exhaustive investigation found there is 'insufficient evidence' to prove 'beyond a reasonable doubt' that Pantaleo acted 'willfully' when applying a chokehold.
Garner's family loudly expressed their outrage and horror over the decision not to bring charges at an emotional press conference in July. Garner's daughter Emerald is seen wiping away tears during a prayer on the steps on the National Action Network headquarters
Protesters hold signs calling for Pantaleo's firing from the NYPD during the July press conference
A senior Justice Department official said Attorney General William Barr ultimately decided not to side with prosecutors in the Justice Department's civil rights division who wanted to charge Pantaleo.
The official said Barr had been briefed multiple times and watched cell phone video of the encounter himself several times.
The medical examiner's office determined that a chokehold contributed to Garner's death, which was ruled a homicide induced by 'compression of neck, compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police'.
Pantaleo initially tried to use two approved restraint tactics on Garner, much larger at 6-foot-2 and 395lbs but ended up wrapping his arm around Garner's neck for about seven seconds as they struggled against a glass storefront window and fell to the sidewalk.
Chokeholds are banned under police policy.
Pantaleo maintained he used a legal takedown maneuver called the 'seatbelt' that slipped during the struggle.
Donoghue stressed that Pantaelo was 'not engaged in a chokehold' on Garner when he said he could not breathe, and that he said the words 'I can't breathe' only after the officer released his grip as the two of them fell to the sidewalk.
'The evidence here does not support charging Pantaleo or any other officer with a federal criminal civil rights violation,' Donoghue said, adding that the government's investigation into Garner's death 'has been closed'.
Garner's mother, Gwen Carr (pictured), told the media in July: 'We are here with heavy hearts because the DOJ has failed us. We may never know justice in the DOJ but I think there will be justice, and we're going to keep fighting. We're not going away, so you can forget that'
Gwen Carr, mother of Garner, walks with Rev Al Sharpton as they exit the US Attorney's office following a meeting with federal prosecutors last month in Brooklyn
Garner's daughter Emerald Snipes (pictured) demanded that officer Pantaleo be fired
The officer was stripped of his gun and put on desk duty after the incident but continued to draw a hefty salary since Garner's death.
His pay has peaked at more than $120,000 in 2017, according to city payroll records.
Garner's family condemned the DOJ's decision at an emotional press conference.
'We are here with heavy hearts because the DOJ has failed us,' Garner's mother, Gwen Carr, said last month.
'We may never know justice in the DOJ but I think there will be justice, and we're going to keep fighting. We're not going away, so you can forget that.
'You think it could be swept under the rug? No, it's not gonna be swept under the rug.'
'I stood quietly by for five years,' Carr added. 'I am not being being quiet anymore.'
Garner's widow, Esaw Snipes, also attended the emotional press conference and wept
Her daughter, Emerald Snipes, exploded in rage when given a chance to address the DOJ's decision.
'I am very angry,' she began by saying. 'I stand here in the spirit of my sister who fought for justice until her dying day, for my father.
'We called the Department of Justice - they didn't do their job, so, no, I'm going to stand outside and I'm going to scream: Pantaleo needs to be fired! He needs to be fired! There is no waiting, there is no nothing.
'Five years later, and there's still no justice, so, no, there won't be no calm. No, there won't be no peace. No justice, no peace.'
Snipes went on saying: 'Don't apologize to me, fire the officer. Don't give me your condolences: I heard that five years ago. We want justice and we want it today.'
She also addressed Mayor Bill de Blasio directly, demanding that he terminate the officer. 'Don't apologize to me,' she said. 'Fire the officer.'
Sharpton, who joined Garner's family at the press conference, decried the decision to close the case without bringing federal charges against the cop as 'a moral disgrace' and 'judicial malpractice'.
The civil rights activist said the move shows that people's federal civil rights are not protected 'no matter what the evidence is'.
De Blasio, a Democrat and a presidential candidate, says it was a 'mistake' for New York City to wait years for federal prosecutors to investigate Garner's death before beginning disciplinary proceedings against Pantaleo.
However, the mayor did not say whether the city intends to fire him from the police department.
A spokesperson for de Blasio says the police commissioner is expected to decide Pantaleo's fate by August 31.
Garner's death came at a time of a growing public outcry over police killings of unarmed black men that sparked the national Black Lives Matter movement.
Just weeks later, protests erupted in Ferguson, Missouri, over the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown.
When a Staten Island grand jury declined to indict Pantaleo on state charges in December 2014, demonstrations flared in New York and several other cities.
Garner's death has dogged de Blasio since it happened in his first year in office.
His initial statements after the death were critical of the officers involved, and he talked publicly about having had to warn his own son, who is black, to be careful during any encounters with police.
Then, as protests flared, a disturbed man angry about the Garner and Brown cases ambushed and killed two New York City police officers as they sat in their cruiser.
The head of the city's largest police union said the mayor had 'blood on his hands' over the killings. Police officers turned their backs on the mayor at the officers' funerals.
De Blasio wound up infuriating police reform advocates, too, by allowing the department to wait for years to begin disciplinary proceedings against Pantaleo.
The delay was due to the city's desire to avoid interfering in the ongoing federal civil rights investigation.
Chants of 'Fire Pantaleo' interrupted de Blasio at Wednesday's Democratic presidential debate in Detroit.
Garner's death, along with the deaths of other black men and teenage boys at the hands of police, became a rally cry for police reform activists.
The Garner probe has now outlasted the tenures of three attorney generals under two presidents.
'It's shocking that it's taken this long for the department to come to a prosecutorial decision,' said Jonathan Smith, who led the special litigation section of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division from 2010 to 2015 but was not involved in the Garner case.
A state grand jury in December 2014 also refused to indict the officer on criminal charges.
A man covers his face during a Black Lives Matter of Greater New York protest at the US Department of Justice building in Washington, DC, on July 15
A few dozen activists were seen holding a banner reminding of the nearing statute of limitations deadline in Garner's case in DC on July 15
The NYPD brought Pantaleo up on departmental charges in May, after keeping the case on hold for nearly five years. Federal prosecutors were observing the proceedings.
An administrative judge who presided over Pantaleo's internal disciplinary trial in the spring has yet to submit her findings to the police commissioner, who has the final say on punishment, which could range from loss of vacation days to termination.
Pantaleo's lawyer, Stuart London, said he'd prefer to remain on the force. 'It's in his blood. He'd love to continue,' London said.
The department trial, spread over several weeks in May and June, included never-before-heard testimony from other officers involved in Garner's arrest and a medical examiner, who ruled that the chokehold set into motion 'a lethal sequence of events'.
Cell phone video shot by Garner's friend, Ramsey Orta, showed Pantaleo taking Garner to the ground after he and another officer confronted him over suspicions he was selling loose, untaxed cigarettes outside a Staten Island convenience store.
Before Pantaleo grabbed him, Garner is seen on video arguing with the officers, protesting what he considered constant harassment.
Pantaleo's union, the Police Benevolent Association (PBA), has blamed Garner's poor health and resisting arrest for his death.
Garner, a married father of six, weighed 395lbs at the time of death and suffered from asthma, diabetes and had a heart nearly double the size of a person in good health, a medical examiner said.
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