After five years, no indictment in state court and the Fed’s doing nothing…
It came’s down to the New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill….
There was NO way this was coming out any way different….
NYPD cop Daniel Panatelo has been fired for causing the chokehold death of Eric Garner, Police Commissioner James O’Neill announced Monday.
O’Neill’s widely expected decision to fire the embattled cop endorsed the recommendation of a deputy commissioner who presided over Pantaleo’s departmental trial earlier this year.
It also came after Mayor Bill de Blasio proclaimed that Garner’s family was “going to get justice … in the next 30 days” during a Democratic presidential primary debate on July 31.
Garner’s July 17, 2014, death became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement after cellphone video captured him repeatedly yelling “I can’t breathe!” while being arrested on suspicion of illegally selling loose cigarettes on Staten Island.
O’Neill called the incident an “irreversible tragedy” and faulted both men for their actions, saying that Garner shouldn’t have resisted arrest and that Pantaleo should have “re-adjusted his grip” after forcing Garner to the sidewalk.
He also said that “If I was still a cop, I’d probably be mad at me,” but noted that his job required him to “think about the rules and regs of the NYPD” and apply them as written.
O’Neill said he made the “very difficult decision” in the past several days, but added, “I’ve been thinking about this since I was sworn in as police commissioner” in 2016….