2:31
- ABC News
- August 20, 2019
NYPD officer involved in Eric Garner's death fired
NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo was "untruthful" and "self-serving," a judge said.
2:31
Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights leader who assisted the Garner family throughout the process, said that \"we are relieved but we are not celebratory. There is nothing to celebrate.\"
\"Today Daniel Pantaleo lost his job but five years ago, Eric Garner lost his life,\" Sharpton said. He added that the decision came \"five years too late, and [caused] five years of pain and misery that will never end for this family.\"
Sharpton said that Pantaleo's termination is \"good for the citizens of the city,\" but promised that \"this is the beginning, not the end,\" as he wants to push for chokeholds to be criminalized under state law so that officers who use the move would face more than \"just termination.\"
The New York City's medical examiner ruled that Garner's death was a homicide due to the sequence of evidence started by Pantaleo's chokehold that triggered a cascade of events and ended with a fatal asthma attack.
O’Neill’s decision elicited a swift rebuke from Patrick Lynch, the president of the Police Benevolent Association, who said that the commissioner \"has chosen politics and his own self-interest over the police officers he claims to lead.\"
\"He has chosen to cringe in fear of the anti-police extremists, rather than standing up for New Yorkers who want a functioning police department, with cops who are empowered to protect them and their families,” Lynch said in a statement. “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.”
In public remarks after the decision was announced, Lynch said that the mayor and the police commissioner need to be held responsible.
\"This mayor needs to be removed. The police commissioner needs to know he's lost his police department,\" Lynch said.
Davie released a statement after the decision, saying that the Garner family and the public \"finally have closure.\"
\"Make no mistake: This process took entirely too long. And the tragic reality is that neither a verdict from a judge nor a decision by a police commissioner can reverse what happened on July 17, 2014,\" Davie said in the statement.
\"Officer Daniel Pantaleo’s termination from the New York City Police Department does not make the death of Eric Garner any less harrowing. But it is heartening to know that some element of justice has been served.\"
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/gwen-carr-gty-jc-190621_hpEmbed_2_3x2_384.jpg\")
New York Attorney General Letitia James released a statement after O'Neill's announcement.
\"While we will never be able to change the events that transpired or bring Mr. Garner back, today, some semblance of justice is finally being served,” she said.
Cell phone video of Garner’s death was seen by millions around the world. His last words, \"I can't breathe,\" became a rallying cry for grassroots organizations like Black Lives Matter, which continues to lead protest against police-involved deaths of unarmed civilians.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/ht_eric_garner_facebook_wy_141203_hpEmbed_6_15x13_384.jpg\")
Chants of \"Fire Pantaleo\" interrupted Mayor Bill de Blasio during a Democratic presidential debate in Detroit in July.
Pantaleo's attorney, Stuart London, maintained that his client used a \"seat belt\" method -- a technique Pantaleo was formally taught -- to subdue Garner for allegedly selling loose cigarettes on Staten Island.
London has said that Garner caused his own death because of his weight and previously diagnosed health conditions.
Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch wanted O'Neill to support Pantaleo and not fire him in order to allow officers \"to be effective again.\"
ABC News' Josh Margolin contributed to this report.
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