“During my 20 years as an NYC cop, I came across more than my share of tough guys who resisted arrest. When that person is 6’2″ and 400 pounds, the cop knows his own life is on the line. Do you know how hard it is to put handcuffs on a large man who tells you he’s not going without a fight? Trust me: when that happens, the cop is about to be fighting for his life. By the way, the cop can’t simply walk away from such defiance. Moreover, he knows intuitively that someone who defies police authority is someone who is willing to kill you to avoid arrest. That cop had better be prepared to do whatever it takes to fulfill every cop’s on-duty prayer: get back home alive!”
SHOULD OFFICER PANTELEO HAVE BEEN FIRED ?
“Garner, who was black, died during a 2014 arrest in Staten Island for the sale of untaxed cigarettes after he refused to be handcuffed by several officers. Prosecutors in the case argued Pantaleo, 33, used a banned chokehold to take Garner down to the ground, but his attorney argued he used an approved “seat belt” technique to subdue the suspect.”
It’s been 5 years since this tragic incident in New York City occurred. It was at a time when tensions between the police and the black community nationwide were were at a fever pitch. The Trayvon Martin killing had occurred and Michael Brown’s death at the hands of a police officer was also fresh in the minds of black activists. It was also a time that President Barack Obama appeared to be fanning the flames of racial tensions with his condemnation of the New Haven police dept. for “acting stupidly” in his view while admitting he didn’t know the facts of a case.
In the specific case of Eric Garner’s death, the incident and surrounding events had been pretty thoroughly documented, including a recording of the actual arrest of Garner that led to his death (video shown in link).
From a distance of several hundred miles and no access to all of the ‘nuanced’ details which came out in the various hearings, we are able to make a judgment based only on what we do know from various news accounts at the time and in the years since. Some additional details are contained in the article below entitled “The Eric Garner case: Another cop fired for doing his job”, written by a former police officer, Bob Weir. That article is linked here,
Veritaspac would like to know what you think about the disposition of this case, and especially whether you believe officer Panteleo should have been fired. DLH
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NYPD officer accused in Eric Garner’s death has been fired, commissioner says
Fox News (excerpt)
Daniel Pantaleo, the New York City police officer accused in the 2014 death of Eric Garner that sparked nationwide outrage, has been fired, Commissioner James O’Neill announced Monday afternoon — spurring a furious response from the department’s police union, which blasted the decision as caving to “anti-police extremists.”
O’Neill, who said it was “an extremely difficult decision,” said during a midday news conference that he made his final call in the “last couple of days” in the case that has spanned five years.
“None of us can take back our decisions,” O’Neill told reporters, “especially when they lead to the death of another human being.”
Pantaleo had been suspended since Aug. 2, after a department disciplinary judge recommended his termination. . . .
New York Attorney General Letitia James said Garner’s family has waited five years and that “some semblance of justice is finally being served.”
“In memory of Eric Garner and the countless others who have unjustly lost their lives, we will continue to fight for reforms to fix our broken criminal justice system and ensure that all of our communities feel safe,” James said in a statement.
Garner, who was black, died during a 2014 arrest in Staten Island for the sale of untaxed cigarettes after he refused to be handcuffed by several officers. Prosecutors in the case argued Pantaleo, 33, used a banned chokehold to take Garner down to the ground, but his attorney argued he used an approved “seat belt” technique to subdue the suspect.
In a cellphone video taken by a bystander, Garner could be heard saying “I can’t breathe” 11 times before falling unconscious. That phrase has since become a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Last month the Justice Department ruled against the Civil Rights Division’s recommendation that charges be brought against Pantaleo, siding with officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York, and arguing the government’s burden of proof could not be met. A grand jury also declined to indict Pantaleo on criminal charges in 2014.
The Eric Garner case: Another cop fired for doing his job
By Bob Weir at American Thinker
Inasmuch as we live in an era that supports the bad guys over the good guys, it was inevitable that New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo would end up being fired for doing his job during an arrest situation in which a black man died. It all began on July 17, 2014 during a routine police assignment. About 3:30 P.M., Eric Garner, a 43-year-old black man, was approached by NYC cops as he was standing in front of a beauty supply store on Staten Island. Acting on a complaint, the cops confronted Garner and accused him of selling untaxed cigarettes, a violation of New York State Law. After telling him he was under arrest, officer Pantaleo tried to handcuff Garner, who was 6’2″ and weighed about 400 pounds.
Garner resisted the officers’ attempts to put the manacles on him, slapping their hands away. It was then that Pantaleo placed his arm around Garner’s neck and tried to pull him to the ground. The man was heard saying, “I can’t breathe” but continued to struggle. According to cops on the scene, Garner lost consciousness. An ambulance removed him to a hospital, and he was pronounced dead an hour later. The NYC medical examiner found that death resulted from compression of the neck and chest during the physical restraint, adding that asthma, heart disease, and obesity were contributing factors. There was no damage to the trachea (windpipe) or the neck bones.
Nevertheless, because NYC has a rule against cops using a chokehold during physical encounters, Pantaleo was put on desk duty and stripped of his service gun and his shield. At a May 2019 hearing for Pantaleo, a medical examiner testified that his use of a prohibited chokehold on Garner “set into motion a lethal sequence” that led to a fatal asthma attack. However, the examiner conceded that even “a bear hug” could have had the same effect as the chokehold, given that Garner weighed 395 pounds, suffered from asthma and diabetes, and had a heart twice the size of a healthy person’s heart. In 2014, a grand jury declined to indict Pantaleo. In addition, after a five-year federal civil rights investigation, no charges were brought against the officer.
None of that mattered to the race-hustlers who are always looking for another opportunity to divide the country and obtain more publicity (and money) for their hateful causes. Something else that didn’t matter was the fact that Garner had been arrested by the NYPD more than thirty times since 1980 on charges such as assault, resisting arrest, grand larceny, and selling untaxed cigarettes. In 2007, he filed a complaint in federal court accusing a cop of doing a cavity search on him during an arrest. He told his legal aid lawyers that he intended to take all the cases against him to trial. Why wouldn’t he? Legal aid lawyers are paid for by the taxpayers, so it wouldn’t cost him a dime. Incidentally, at the time of the incident that led to his death, he was out on bail for selling untaxed cigarettes, driving without a license, marijuana possession, and false impersonation.
How much of the aforementioned has been aired in the mainstream media? According to those who never met a criminal they couldn’t love and embrace, Garner was nothing but a lovable teddy bear, a gentle giant with a heart of gold. Pantaleo, on the other hand, was a savage brute who must have had racism on his mind when he viciously “murdered” a fine, upstanding black man. Well, Al Sharpton and the rest of the race-hustlers have had another victory: Pantaleo was fired by NYC police commissioner James O’Neill. He said he fired the officer based on a recent recommendation of a department disciplinary judge, adding that it was clear that Pantaleo “can no longer effectively serve as a New York City police officer.” That’s liberal-speak for “there’s been so much controversy over this case that even the Democrat candidates running for president have called for his termination, and Mayor de Blasio assured his left wing base that ‘justice’ will be done.”
Pantaleo is just another sacrificial lamb in the left-wing plot to neutralize police and create anarchy on our streets. As a result of incidents like this, how many cops will be more inclined to walk away from violent situations and let the criminals run wild?
During my 20 years as an NYC cop, I came across more than my share of tough guys who resisted arrest. When that person is 6’2″ and 400 pounds, the cop knows his own life is on the line. Do you know how hard it is to put handcuffs on a large man who tells you he’s not going without a fight? Trust me: when that happens, the cop is about to be fighting for his life. By the way, the cop can’t simply walk away from such defiance. Moreover, he knows intuitively that someone who defies police authority is someone who is willing to kill you to avoid arrest. That cop had better be prepared to do whatever it takes to fulfill every cop’s on-duty
Weir’s article provides essential perspective. Garner would not have died from the restraint hold but for his underlying walking time-bomb condition. Garner lit the fuse as well by 1) doing something illegal and 2) refusing to submit to a lawful arrest. Would the outcry have been the same had the story been that say he was selling cigarettes to minors (you can bet he was) or doing something of a felony nature (although resisting arrest might constitute a felony in his case if he injured the officer or the office reasonably thought his continued resistance would be injurious to him). But the tragedy is the cops, having properly initiated the arrest, can’t walk away OR presume to call the SWAT team either. Walking away would have been irresponsible public dereliction injurious to good order. The restraint hold was intended as a submission hold but Garners morbid obesity was overwhelming.
By the way, if Garner can say “I can’t breath” multiple times is he actually in a choke hold? Or, was it a situation where an asthma attack was triggered and that is what Garner was relating? Totally letting up could reasonably be considered dangerous until cuffs were in place.
The overwhelming cause of this is Garner. His mother could with as much rational be considered more culpable for not insisting he get help with his weight, his other maladies and not do illegal things provoking arrests and then belligerently resisting it.
Count me as no as to being fired. There is not enough culpability or intent or dereliction of duty. We all agree death is certainly not the punishment for illegally selling cigarettes, but resisting arrest when you are a walking heart attack is not a good idea.
Surprising that there seem to be no readers who want to weigh in on this question.
If you can say, “I can’t breathe…” you’re breathing.