Grand Jury in Eric Garner Chokehold Case Doesn’t Indict Officer

The family of Eric Garner address a New York rally. Photograph: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

N.Y. Times

A Staten Island grand jury on Wednesday ended the criminal case against a white New York police officer whose chokehold on an unarmed black man led to the man’s death, a decision that drew condemnation from many elected officials and touched off a wave of angry but generally peaceful protests.

The fatal encounter in July was captured on videos seen around the world. But after viewing the footage and hearing from witnesses, including the officer who used the chokehold, the jurors deliberated for less than day before deciding that there was not enough evidence to go forward with charges against the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, 29, in the death of the man, Eric Garner, 43.

Officer Pantaleo appeared before the grand jury on Nov. 21, testifying that he did not intend to choke Mr. Garner. He described the maneuver as a wrestling move, adding that he never thought Mr. Garner was in mortal danger.

 

On Wednesday, a protester sat on Bay Street, where Eric Garner was killed, on Staten Island. Credit Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times        

 

On the videos, Mr. Garner, a 350-pound man who was about to be arrested for illegally selling cigarettes, can be seen first complaining of harassment, then physically resisting arrest by several officers, including Officer Pantaleo, whose arm finds its way around the struggling man’s neck.

Officer Pantaleo testified that when he put his hands on Mr. Garner, he was employing a maneuver taught to him at the Police Academy, hooking an arm underneath one of Mr. Garner’s arms while wrapping the other around Mr. Garner’s torso, Mr. London said. The move is meant to “tip the person so they lose their balance and go to the ground,” as seen in wrestling, Mr. London said.

But then things changed. As the struggle continued, one of Officer Pantaleo’s arms moved around Mr. Garner’s neck. Officer Pantaleo told the grand jury that he became fearful as he found himself sandwiched between a much larger man and a storefront window.

“He testified that the glass buckled while Garner was up against him and he was against the glass,” Mr. London said. “He was concerned that both he and Garner would go through that glass.”

 

(YouTube) Officer Daniel Pantaleo

 

The officer tackled some of the most damaging evidence head-on. He acknowledged that he heard Mr. Garner saying, “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe,” and insisted that he tried to disengage as quickly as he could, according to his lawyer, Stuart London. At the same time, Mr. Garner’s ability to speak, the officer testified, suggested that he, in fact, could breathe.

 

On the video, the men toppled to the ground, but the arm around Mr. Garner’s neck did not appear to move. Officer Pantaleo told jurors he continued to hold on to Mr. Garner as he struggled to regain his balance, Mr. London said. He said he wanted to make sure that Mr. Garner was not injured by other officers rushing in, as well as to prevent Mr. Garner from possibly biting one of them.

 

 On the video, Mr. Garner, 43, can be heard saying that he could not breathe. Officer Pantaleo told the grand jurors he heard those pleas.

“That’s why he attempted to get off as quick as he could,” Mr. London said. “He thought that once E.M.T. arrived, everything would be O.K.”

This account does not seem to match what is seen on the video, with Officer Pantaleo holding firm and not appearing to hurry to get off Mr. Garner.

Mr. London said Officer Pantaleo told the grand jurors that he was aware he was being videotaped, telling them, “I expect everything to be filmed,” Mr. London said.

“He knew he was committing no misconduct so it didn’t bother him,” Mr. London said.

 

“In the majority of cases, defendants do not testify in front of a grand jury,” said James J. Culleton, who has represented police officers in high-profile police shootings, including those of Amadou Diallo and Sean Bell.

But police cases are different, he said.

“The justification defense — put it in front of the grand jury,” he said. “I believe the grand jury wants to hear what a police officer has to say. What happened? What was happening around him at the time?”

An officer brings a heightened level of credibility before the grand jury, and perhaps, some sympathy from the prosecutor, said Paul P. Martin, another lawyer from the Bell case.

“You get a sense of whether they want to jam your client or not” before deciding to allow an officer to testify, he said. “You look at the facts and say, Is this something he can beat on the facts?” There is another factor: “Of course, how articulate your client is.”

 

Other theories arose.

Marvyn Kornberg, a Queens lawyer, has represented several police officers accused of crimes, and said it was likely the autopsy report that played a role in the grand jury’s decision. The report listed several contributing factors in his death, including his obesity, weak heart and asthma.

“There were so many causes of death in the autopsy report,” he said. “You have to prove this guy caused his death.”

 

 

Grand juries determine whether enough evidence exists for a case to go forward to a criminal trial, either before a jury or a judge. By law, they operate in secret and hear only evidence presented by prosecutors, who also instruct the grand jurors on the law. Defense lawyers are barred from speaking. For a decision, 12 jurors who have heard all the evidence must agree.

While the exact makeup of the grand jury was unclear, Mr. London said it was roughly half white, with the other half evenly divided among blacks and Hispanics.

 

With criminal phase over, Officer Pantaleo’s fate moves into the realm of Police Department discipline. It is far from clear if he will return to enforcement duties, and Commissioner William J. Bratton said he would remain on suspension pending an internal investigation by the Police Department.

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Protests gripped New York City for the second straight week following another grand jury decision not to indict a white officer for killing an unarmed black male, in this case Eric Garner in Staten Island. At least 78 arrests were made in the city as protesters marched through Manhattan throughout the night. Peaceful afternoon protests in the city turned furious. In Times Square, about 300 protesters peacefully congregated to criticize the grand jury's decision, as dozens of uniformed New York City police officers looked on. Protesters chanted: "I can't breathe!"; "No justice, no peace!"; "How do you spell racism? NYPD!"; "This is resistance!" At about midnight, 1,000 protesters marched across the Brooklyn Bridge, with police allowing them to move in the roadway. The demonstrations continued into the wee hours of Thursday. Protesters also took to the streets in Atlanta, Oakland (California), and other cities.