Friday, July 17th marks the one year anniversary of Eric Garner’s death at the hands of police officers in New York City. Garner died after being forcefully placed in a chokehold by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, who was attempting to arrest Garner for illegally distributing loose cigarettes.
Pantaleo has been on desk duty since being cleared of all charges by a grand jury in December of last year. However, despite the charges being dropped, he still remains under investigation by NYPD’s Internal Affairs and there is a chance a civil rights case will be filed against him by the Justice Department. If this were to happen, Pantaleo could lose his job and/or never be allowed to return to his previous role as a patrolman for the city.
They have to prove my client had a specific intent to deprive Eric Garner of a federally protected constitutional right,” said Pantaleo’s attorney, Stuart London. “Based on all the pertinent information I have, they don’t reach that threshold in this case.
Between the video that shows the fatal chokehold and the anniversary of Eric Garner’s death, the confidence of Pantaleo’s attorney isn’t going to spare the officer from being cast back into the public eye this week. There will be a lot of media coverage and analysis.
What do y’all think should happen?
