Saturday, August 2, 2014 The death of Eric Garner, who died after a New York City police officer held him in a chokehold July 17, has now been ruled a homicide. According to the medical examiner’s report released Friday, the 43-year-old father of six died as a result of compression to the chest and “prone positioning during physical restraint by police,” which means Garners death is directly related to the chokehold administered by Officer Daniel Pantaleo. Garner’s widow, Esaw Garner, told the New York Daily News that she was relieved those responsible for her husband’s death would be held accountable. But despite her relief and the autopsy report, no one has been arrested or charged for Garner’s death. City officials claim the investigation is still ongoing. Pantaleo, the one responsible for holding Garner in the illegal chokehold, banned by New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly in 1993, is an eight-year-veteran with the NYPD. Unfortunately, he was left on active duty even though he has a history of civil rights complaints against him. The city paid out a $30,000 judgment in a 2012 case and another is currently pending. In the 2012 case, Darren Collins and Tommy Rice of Staten Island accused Pantaleo and other officers of stopping them, performing an unlawful search of their vehicle, handcuffing them and humiliating them with a strip search in public. Pantaleo was accused again in a 2014 suit brought by Staten Island resident Rylawn Walker, who said the officer falsely arrested and imprisoned him. On that fateful Thursday in July, police were attempting to arrest Eric Garner for allegedly selling cigarettes illegally, even though he was heard on the disturbing cellphone video of the incident protesting his innocence while accusing the police of constant harassment. While being held down on the Staten Island sidewalk where he later died, the victim, who was 400 pounds and asthmatic, was heard desperately telling the officers he couldn’t breathe as they continued to pile on top of him while holding him down. Ramsey Orta, the witness who used his cellphone to record the sickening tragedy that went viral and sparked widespread outrage, said the cops just ambushed Garner. “They jumped him and they were choking him. He was foaming at the mouth, the 22-year-old Orta told the New York Daily News. “And that’s it, he was done. The cops were saying, ‘No, he’s OK, he’s OK. He wasn’t OK.” Other witnesses at the scene also said Garner had just broken up a fight and hadnt done anything illegal. Pantaleo and another officer were taken off the streets and four EMS workers were also placed on modified duty because they did not intervene after arriving on the scene.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 17:15:26 +0000