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NYPD Fires Daniel Pantaleo, Who Used Banned Chokehold On Eric Garner Before His Death

By Bobby Allyn

Published August 19, 2019 at 6:28 PM EDT

Gwen Carr (left) mother of Eric Garner, joins a "young people" rally in Federal Plaza to protest the decision by federal prosecutors last month not to bring civil rights charges against New York City police Officer Daniel Pantaleo over Garner's death in 2014. [Bebeto Matthews / AP] — Gwen Carr (left) mother of Eric Garner, joins a "young people" rally in Federal Plaza to protest the decision by federal prosecutors last month not to bring civil rights charges against New York City police Officer Daniel Pantaleo over Garner's death in 2014.

Updated at 1:26 p.m. ET

New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill announced Monday that the police department is terminating the officer involved in the fatal 2014 altercation with Eric Garner, ending a five-year battle over the officer's status.

Officer Daniel Pantaleo used a chokehold on Garner, which is banned by the city's police department, O'Neill said.

The decision backs the recommendation of an NYPD administrative judge earlier this month that Pantaleo should be fired for his role in Garner's death.

Garner's dying words, "I can't breathe," were recorded on bystander cellphone video and became a watershed moment in the Black Lives Matter movement.

"Every time I watch that video, I say to myself, 'Mr. Garner, don't do it, comply.' 'Mr. Pantaleo, don't do it,'" O'Neill said on Monday. "There are no victors here."

Garner, 43, was confronted by police officers who suspected that he was selling loose cigarettes on a Staten Island sidewalk on July 17, 2014. Video footage shows Garner, who was black, waving his hands in the air in protest as Pantaleo, who is white, and his partner approached. Pantaleo applied the chokehold, and Garner later died.

New York City's biggest police union, the Police Benevolent Association, criticized O'Neill's decision, accusing him of choosing "politics and his own self-interest over the police officers he claims to lead."

"With this decision, Commissioner O'Neill has opened the door for politicians to dictate the outcome of every single NYPD disciplinary proceeding, without any regard for the facts of the case or police officers' due process rights," said the association's president, Patrick Lynch.

O'Neill's announcement also follows a decision last month by the Department of Justice to not bring charges against Pantaleo, citing insufficient evidence to pursue a criminal case.

Garner's death was ruled a homicide by New York City's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. None of the police officers involved have been charged with a crime.