NEW YORK — An NYPD judge has recommended that Officer Daniel Pantaleo be fired from the police force for his role in the chokehold death of Eric Garner.
Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado issued the verdict Friday in the internal disciplinary case against Pantaleo, who put his arm around Garner’s neck in July 2014, according to news reports.
The NYPD suspended Pantaleo Friday in response to the decision, said Phil Walzak, the Police Department’s top spokesperson. The officer has avoided criminal charges for his role in Garner’s death, which helped fuel the nationwide Black Lives Matter movement that adopted his last words: “I can’t breathe.”
Maldonado’s decision is a non-binding recommendation to Police Commissioner James O’Neill, who will ultimately decide whether to fire Pantaleo. Police-reform activists and elected officials urged the commissioner to uphold the verdict and give Garner’s family justice five years after his death.
“Five years is too long. Commisisoner O’Neill, do your job,” Garner’s daughter, Emerald Garner, told reporters Friday.
The Civilian Complaint Review Board, the police oversight agency that prosecuted Pantaleo, affirmed Maldonado’s decision in a statement echoing the demands for O’Neill to oust the cop. Pantaleo could also resign from the NYPD before the commissioner makes a decision.
“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,” CCRB Chair Fred Davie said.
O’Neill will receive Maldonado’s full report after the CCRB and Pantaleo’s defense team have a chance to comment on her recommendations, Walzak said, adding that the Police Department would not speak further about the case until the commissioner makes his decision.
“All of New York City understandably seeks closure to this difficult chapter in our City’s history,” Walzak said in a statement. “Premature statements or judgments before the process is complete however cannot and will not be made.”
Protesters shouting “Fire Pantaleo!” wedged their way into City Hall’s west wing Friday as Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed the major developments in a case that has bedeviled his city for five years.
The Democratic mayor said he has not read Maldonado’s recommendations nor spoken with O’Neill about them. But he said her decision marked an important step in a “fair and impartial process” for holding Pantaleo accountable.
“Today, for the first time in these long five years, the system of justice is working,” de Blasio said at a news conference where he spoke for fewer than 15 mintues.
The decision came as the NYPD reportedly braced for protests over the weekend in case Maldonado’s ruling sided with Pantaleo. He was accused of recklessly using a banned chokehold and restricting Garner’s breathing.
Pantaleo’s lawyer, Stuart London, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But the head of his police union blasted the judge’s recommendation as “pure political insanity.”
“If it is allowed to stand, it will paralyze the NYPD for years to come,” said Patrick Lynch, the president of the New York City Police Benevolent Association. “This judge ignored the evidence and trampled P.O. Pantaleo’s due process rights in order to deliver the result that grandstanding politicians and protesters demanded.”
Pantaleo was seen on video with his arm against Garner’s neck as cops tried to arrest him for allegedly selling loose cigarettes on July 17, 2014. Garner repeatedly shouted “I can’t breathe” as he was on the ground, a phrase that became an iconic rallying cry for anti-police-brutality protesters.
The NYPD’s disciplinary process was the last possible venue for Pantaleo to face accountability for Garner’s death. A Staten Island grand jury declined to indict him on state charges in 2014, and it took almost exactly five years for the U.S. Department of Justice to say it would not pursue a federal case against the cop.
The NYPD has said it will also pursue a disciplinary case against Sgt. Kizzy Adonis, who was a supervising officer on the scene. But police-reform activists have demanded the firings of every cop involved in Garner’s killing.
The case has haunted de Blasio, who was in the first year of his tenure when Garner died. Protesters targeted the mayor with shouts of “Fire Pantaleo!” during Wednesday’s second presidential debate in Detroit.
“De Blasio consistently attempts to talk a good game when it comes to police accountability, yet time and time again (his) actions speak much louder than his lies: the years of delays, lies, and protecting abusive officers have amounted to nothing less that torture for Eric Garner’s mother and family,” Loyda Colon, the co-director of the Justice Committee activist group, said in a statement.
De Blasio noted that the NYPD in his tenure has trained cops on de-escalating conflict and implicit biases while simultaneously driving down arrests and crime.
The mayor laid blame on the state and federal authorities — particularly the Justice Department — who did not criminally prosecute Pantaleo. He said he “absolutely” regrets adhering for so long to the department’s request that the city hold off on the disciplinary proceedings.
“I cannot find any parallel to what happened here and it’s an unacceptable reality,” he said. “I did not think it possible, honestly.”