New York - The New York Police Department has fired the officer caught on video with his arm around the neck of 43-year-old Eric Garner just before he died in 2014, capping a five-year legal saga over the incident that fueled a movement to change how police treat minorities.
NYPD Commissioner James P. O'Neill announced the decision Monday, weeks after a departmental disciplinary judge recommended the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, be terminated. Pantaleo's union said they would try to overturn the decision.
"In this case the unintended consequence of Mr. Garner's death must have a consequence of its own," said O'Neill. "It is clear that Daniel Pantaleo can no longer effectively serve as a New York City police officer."
O'Neill called the decision "extremely difficult," acknowledging that the move probably would anger rank-and-file officers. "If I was still a cop, I'd probably be mad at me," he said.
On the video recording of Garner's death, he is seen being grabbed by officers and pulled down to the sidewalk after he insisted they should not arrest him for allegedly selling loose cigarettes. On the video, he can be heard saying, "I can't breathe," and his dying words became a rallying cry for protests demanding changes in police treatment of minorities.
"Cops have to make choices, sometimes very quickly," said O'Neill. "Those decisions are scrutinized and second-guessed, both fairly and unfairly . . . I can tell you that had I been in Officer Pantaleo's situation, I may have made similar mistakes."
O'Neill said he reached two conclusions watching the video - that Garner should not have resisted arrest, particularly given that complying with the officers probably would have resulted in a summons, not arrest; and that Pantaleo started the interaction using approved techniques but then escalated to a prohibited chokehold.
"Today is a day of reckoning, but it can also be a day of reconciliation," the commissioner said.
The case sparked local and federal investigations, both of which ended with no charges filed against Pantaleo or the other officers involved.
Members of Garner's family, frustrated by the lack of criminal charges, said they were pleased the city had fired Pantaleo as they had demanded but called for further government action.
One of his daughters, Emerald Garner, thanked the NYPD commissioner for firing Pantaleo but said more needs to be done, including reopening the criminal investigation of her father's death and making police chokeholds illegal to prevent similar incidents.
"It took five years for the officer to be fired. I don't want another Eric Garner," she said. "Yes, he's fired, but the fight is not over. We will continue to fight."
She also called for congressional hearings into police conduct.
"We are relieved but not celebratory," said the activist Rev. Al Sharpton, who supported the family's push for punishment of Pantaleo. "You cannot have a set of rules for citizens and a different set of rules for policemen. They must follow the law and follow policy."
The union representing New York officers, the Police Benevolent Association, blasted the NYPD's decision and suggested its members will have to shy away from confrontations, making the city less safe.
"The damage is already done. The NYPD will remain rudderless and frozen, and Commissioner O'Neill will never be able to bring it back," said PBA President Patrick Lynch. "We are urging all New York City police officers to proceed with utmost caution in this new reality, in which they may be deemed 'reckless' just for doing their job."
Patrick Yoes, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, issued a scathing statement declaring that O'Neill had "caved to political pressure" and warning of lasting consequences.
"This firing will have a chilling effect on how officers, in the NYPD and elsewhere, do their jobs in the future," Yoes said. "It will have a chilling effect on how our profession retains and recruits the best possible people for a very difficult and dangerous profession - which is made much more difficult when political expediency supplants common sense."
Pantaleo's attorney, Stuart London, said his client, a 13-year veteran of the NYPD, is disappointed and upset about the decision but plans to appeal it. "We are looking for him to get his job back," said London.
Union officials said NYPD brass had been negotiating with Pantaleo's lawyers for him to resign with vested pension benefits as recently as late last week, but that police officials rescinded that offer over the weekend.
"At that point, Pat and I realized the writing was on the wall, that they had been disingenuous when they indicated to us that he would receive a full pension," said London.
New York City officials blamed the Justice Department for the long delay in reaching a decision on Pantaleo's job, saying they had deferred to Washington where two administrations dithered on reaching a conclusion in their federal civil rights investigation of the incident.
"Today will not bring Eric Garner back," said Mayor Bill de Blasio. "But I hope it brings some small measure of closure and peace to the Garner family."
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the Justice Department had failed the Garner family, and pledged to keep the issue alive by holding hearings and seeking legislation "to strengthen police-community relations."