A Staten Island grand jury will not indict New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo in the choking death of Eric Garner, reports indictate. From the New York Times:
An indictment was considered only against Officer Pantaleo, who testified last, on Nov. 21, his lawyer, Stuart London, said. The other officers received immunity, he said.
The case exposed lapses in police tactics – chokeholds are banned by the Police Department’s own guidelines – and raised questions about the aggressive policing of minor offenses in a time of historically low crime. The officers, part of a plainclothes unit, suspected Mr. Garner of selling loose cigarettes on the street near the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, a complaint among local business owners.
The city’s medical examiner ruled in August that Garner’s death was a homicide caused by the chokehold. Pantaleo could still be punished by the NYPD; New York television station Pix11 has asserted that Pantaleo did not mention using the banned maneuver in an official police report on the incident.
