NEW YORK — In a reckoning five years in the making, an administrative judge on Friday recommended firing a New York City police officer over the 2014 chokehold death of an unarmed black man whose dying cries of “I can’t breathe” fueled a national debate over policing, race and the use of force.
The city’s police commissioner will make a final decision this month on whether to fire Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who is white, for his role in Eric Garner’s death. Pantaleo was suspended shortly after the judge’s decision became public, about two weeks after federal prosecutors closed the book on criminal charges.
Mayor Bill de Blasio hailed the judge’s report as “a step toward justice and accountability,” while Pantaleo’s lawyer and a union leader said it penalized an officer for properly doing his job. The lawyer said he will appeal to state court if Pantaleo is fired.
Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, said the report brought her “some relief” but was overdue and fell short of true accountability.
“It’s past time for Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD to end their obstruction, stop spreading misleading talking points and finally take action for my son,” she said in a statement.
Garner’s death came at a time of a growing public outcry over police killings of unarmed black men that sparked the national Black Lives Matter movement. Just weeks later, protests erupted in Ferguson, Mo., over the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown.
When a Staten Island grand jury declined to indict Pantaleo on state charges in December 2014, demonstrations flared in New York and several other cities.
And on Friday evening, several dozen protesters gathered in front of police headquarters, demanding that Pantaleo be fired.
The administrative judge’s findings were provided Friday to Pantaleo’s lawyer and the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the watchdog agency that acted as a prosecutor at his department trial last spring.
Under department rules, Pantaleo’s lawyer will have about two weeks to respond before Police Commissioner James O’Neill makes his decision.
The attorney, Stuart London, said Pantaleo, 33, was disappointed in the judge’s recommendation but remains “cautiously optimistic” he ultimately won’t be dismissed.
London and Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch urged O’Neill to stand up for Pantaleo, saying he’d done nothing wrong and that firing him would leave officers feeling they can’t do their jobs without losing them.
“We’re calling on Commissioner O’Neill to save the New York Police Department. Allow us to be effective again,” Lynch said.
Lynch said that, given the decision, police officers might be considered reckless every time they put their hands on someone. He urged officers to keep responding to 911 calls but “take it a step slower” and call for a supervisor instead of using physical force on an uncooperative suspect.
Police department spokesman Phillip Walzak said Pantaleo’s suspension was standard in disciplinary cases in which termination is recommended. He wouldn’t comment further.
The administrative judge, Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado, had been tasked with deciding whether Pantaleo used a chokehold — banned by police department policy — to take Garner to the ground during a confrontation on a Staten Island street.
