No choke, so OK to clear cop — NYPD

THE NYPD MOVED Wednesday to tamp down speculation of a coverup after the city’s top cop overturned a guilty verdict against a cop accused of using a banned chokehold.

The department released a video of the Oct. 9, 2013, encounter in the elevator of a building in Brooklyn and denied the officer used a chokehold. The move came after City Councilman Rory Lancman raised questions about the case.

“This video clearly demonstrates that the officer did not use a prohibited chokehold or any other prohibited tactic to prevent the defendant . . . from spitting on him and his partner and others in the confined elevator,” Assistant Commissioner Peter Donald said in a statement Wednesday.

As the Daily News first reported Sunday, Police Commissioner James O’Neill decided in July to overturn the guilty ruling in the case prosecuted in front of the Civilian Complaint Review Board.

The CCRB recommended the officer be disciplined, but O’Neill disagreed. It’s the first time he’s tossed a trial room verdict since he became the city’s top cop in September.

The move marked an abrupt shift from both agencies’ position that no records of NYPD disciplinary cases could be released under a state civil rights law that all police personnel records be kept confidential.

The NYPD made certain disciplinary case information available for at least 30 years, but started invoking the law, known as 50-a, in 2016. The review board has also claimed it could not release information because of 50-a.

Donald said the video could be made public only because the officer involved consented.

The CCRB disagreed with O’Neill’s decision and “stands by its decision to substantiate the chokehold charges,” said Jonathan Darche, the board’s executive director.

Lancman called on the police to release a full video, not just a segment. “The purpose of releasing information is not to spin in favor of one side or the other through selective disclosure,” he said.

Mayor de Blasio’s office declined comment Wednesday.