The New York Police Department (NYPD) on Thursday announced they will immediately launch internal trials for two officers involved in the 2014 chokehold death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man.
The department will immediately begin disciplinary processes for officer Daniel Pantaleo, who is accused of choking Garner to death, and Sgt. Kizzy Adonis, who was also present at the scene, according to a NYPD statement sent to The New York Post.
The NYPD said they had been waiting for the Department of Justice’s go-ahead on the investigations.
“The U.S. Department of Justice yesterday for the first time officially confirmed to the NYPD … that there was no objection to moving forward,” the NYPD statement said, according to the Post. “The proceedings themselves will commence in the coming days.”
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Pantaleo, who is white, has reportedly been on desk duty since Garner’s death, and Adonis was on modified status until May 2018, when she returned to full duty, the Post reported.
Garner’s death four years ago mobilized Black Lives Matter activists across the country, who rallied around Garner’s last words: “I can’t breathe.”
Police first stopped Garner over the sale of “loose” untaxed cigarettes.
Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, has long spoken out about how her son was treated at the hands of NYPD police. She said there were five other officers in the video whose names have not been released and who have not faced disciplinary action.
“It’s unacceptable that the NYPD is saying that only two officers will face discipline charges when many more were involved in murdering my son, trying to cover it up and other related misconduct,” Carr said in a statement reported by the Post.
“It’s past time for [New York City Mayor Bill] de Blasio and the NYPD to stop playing games with my son’s death and release the names of all the officers responsible for his murder, [or who] tried to cover it up and engaged in other related misconduct, and bring disciplinary charges to fire all of them,” Carr continued.