NYPD: We’ll bring raps if feds don’t

The NYPD on Monday said the time has come to place Officer Daniel Pantaleo on trial in the chokehold death of Eric Garner.

In a letter sent to the Justice Department — one day before the four-year anniversary of Garner's death — the NYPD said that unless the feds by Aug. 31 publicly announce whether Pantaleo will be prosecuted, it will serve him with departmental charges, with an eye to trying him at 1 Police Plaza early in 2019.

Deputy Commissioner Lawrence Byrne, who runs the Police Department's Legal Bureau and wrote the letter, said the decision was made because the Justice Department told the NYPD in the spring that its investigation was over. Justice Department officials previously had asked the NYPD not to proceed with any internal disciplinary proceeding until the feds finished their probe.

“We feel we've given then sufficient time,” Byrne told reporters. “They still have sufficient time . . . to act, and if they choose, as I said in the letter, if they choose to announce they're going to file criminal charges we'll stand down.”

“If there's no announcement then we need to move ahead at this point.”

The Justice Department said it told the NYPD during its spring contact that it could go forward with its plans for a departmental trial. However, Byrne and Mayor de Blasio said the DOJ never sent them such a signal.

“We have never gotten a clear answer from the Justice Department,” de Blasio said Monday night on NY1. “I think the NYPD is right now to proceed.”

The mayor called the Justice Department's inability to decide whether to pursue the case “strange.”

The Justice Department, however, said it told the NYPD during its spring contact that it could go forward with its plans. Byrne denied late Monday afternoon that Justice ever said that, and Mayor de Blasio echoed that sentiment Monday night.