I’LL FIGHT FOR MY JOB
After judge rules he should be fired, Garner cop says:
Officer Daniel Pantaleo, accused of putting a chokehold on Eric Garner that led to his death, should be f ired, an NYPD judge ruled yesterday. Pantaleo’s lawyer and union boss both said they’d f ight the decision, asking Commissioner James O’Neill not to ax the cop.
Daniel Pantaleo isn’t going down without a fight.
The embattled NYPD cop, who was suspended Friday after an administrative judge recommended he be fired for the 2014 death of Eric Garner, will push back if Police Commissioner James O’Neill fires him, his lawyer and “enraged” police union officials vowed.
“He wants to fight going forward — we will do that,” Pantaleo’s lawyer, Stuart London, told reporters. “We are cautiously optimistic the police commissioner does not want to lose the officers in the city . . . and will come to Officer Pantaleo’s defense.”
NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado recommended in a 45-page draft report to London and the Civilian Complaint Review Board that Pantaleo be fired over the July 17, 2014, deadly encounter on Staten Island in which Pantaleo subdued Garner with a banned chokehold.
During the takedown by cops, which was captured on video and helped spark the Black Lives Matter movement, Garner cried, “I can’t breathe.”
Police Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch called Friday “one of the saddest and most damaging days in the history of New York City and the New York City Police Departments.
“We just found out that no one will stand up for what’s right against wrong,” the police union chief said. “Our police officers, unfortunately, are in a position of having to protect themselves rather than spending time protecting you.
“The only hope for justice now lies with Police Commissioner O’Neill,” Lynch said. “He knows the message that this decision sends to every cop: We are expendable, and we cannot expect any support from the city we protect. He knows that if he affirms this horrendous decision, he will lose his police department.”
Garner’s daughter Emerald Snipes Garner said the judge’s report “confirms what we already knew.”
“We have waited five years, and the time is now for justice,” she said. “We are calling on Commissioner James O’Neill to follow the recommendation and fire Daniel Pantaleo now.”
Mayor de Blasio, meanwhile, called Maldonado’s decision part of “a fair and impartial” process that finally scrutinized Pantaleo’s encounter with Garner.
Before O’Neill makes a decision on Pantaleo’s fate, the Civilian Complaint Review Board,
which prosecuted the administrative hearing against Pantaleo, and the cop’s lawyer will have two weeks to submit motions. O’Neill is expected to issue a final determination on 13-year NYPD veteran Pantaleo sometime this month.
The mayor continued to take heat over the case from hecklers at his press conference who shouted “Fire Pantaleo” — similar to how he was interrupted at Wednesday night’s Democratic presidential debate in Detroit.
A handful of protesters also gathered outside police headquarters Friday evening to call for the officer’s dismissal.
Pantaleo, 34, was placed on modified assignment two days after Garner’s death, as were four EMS workers who responded to the scene.
The city medical examiner ruled Garner’s death a homicide.
The case was presented to a Staten Island grand jury to determine if Pantaleo should face criminal charges, but in December 2014, the panel declined to indict the officer.
In July 2015, almost a year to the date Garner died, his family settled its lawsuit against the city for $5.9 million.
Despite the Staten Island grand jury’s vote, federal prosecutors told the Garner family that an investigation into the incident was “ongoing.”
About five months after Garner’s death, then-Attorney General Eric Holder pledged an “expeditious investigation.” Loretta Lynch, the US attorney in Brooklyn who would succeed Holder, also vowed to review the case “as expeditiously as possible.”
But last month, Brooklyn US Attorney Richard Donoghue said that after an extensive investigation, the Justice Department couldn’t prove that Pantaleo “acted in willful violation of the law” — while noting that Garner was not in a chokehold when he repeatedly gasped, “I can’t breathe.”
If the puppet police commissioner shows his yellow streak and fires Pantaleo, there should be a 10block line outside 1 Police Plaza of police officers vesting out or just resigning.
Things are only going to get worse, and the politicians and activists are more of a danger to the safety of officers than the criminals. Pat Zizza Selden
As a retired assistant chief with 40 years service to the NYPD, I recognize that Commissioner James O’Neill is in a tough spot as he makes his decision on Officer Daniel Pantaleo’s fate (“Don’t Fire This Cop,” Editorial, Aug. 2).
Eric Garner’s death, while tragic, was an accident with white-hot political implications. The Garner family has received over $5.9 million as a result of their attorneys’ civil negotiations with the city, as would happen with any accident involving the city.
My recommendation would be to allow Pantaleo to retire, without prejudice and with full pension benefits.
While there will be critics on both sides of the issue, the commissioner can rationalize his decision to the officers of the NYPD, the community, and the mayor. Ed Young The Bronx
It’s not bad enough that New York City has the mayor dissing the police, now you have a department judge saying the NYPD should terminate Pantaleo over the Eric Garner case.
The inmates are already running the asylum. Police in New York are hamstrung by progressive policies that ignore crime. They don’t need any more interference from leftists. Daniel Pantaleo
If Commissioner O’Neill caves in to the mob and fires Pantaleo, the commissioner himself should be fired. But considering which way New York City’s mayor leans — good luck with that. Walter Goldeski East Brunswick, NJ
Mayor de Blasio’s prediction that “there’s finally going to be justice” in the Garner case irresponsibly puts pressure on impending decisions affecting Pantaleo’s future.
Hopefully, in spite of political and community pressures, the police commissioner reinstates Pantaleo. John Gargiulo Whitestone
Miranda Devine describes Pantaleo as “just doing his job” in the Garner case. Really? Eric Garner died for the heinous crime of selling loose cigarettes (“‘Pantaleo effect’ bodes ill for city,” July 29).
The fact that Devine and others do not see that the police had other options is disturbing.
Garner repeatedly told the police that he could not breathe. There were multiple armed police officers surrounding Garner, which should have made it much easier to subdue him without lethal force.
He could have been given a warning or tased if he failed to cooperate, instead of being executed on the street. I support the police. But I support good policing. Albert Smith Hartford, Conn.
Devine should be commended for reporting the facts of the Garner case so forthrightly.
I served in the NYPD from 1966 to 1986, and I can say truthfully that I either participated in or observed an arrest process like the one in which Garner expired no fewer than 25 times. No one ever died as a result.
Pantaleo acted within the guidelines of the law in order to arrest Garner. He has been savagely maligned, while the mayor and the department he served have abandoned him.
It is painfully evident Garner died from exhaustion while resisting lawful arrest, along with myriad health problems, not the takedown employed by the officer Patrick O’Connor The Bronx
The only person responsible for Garner’s death is Garner. It is complete and utter racism for rich white liberals like de Blasio to excuse the criminal behavior in minority neighborhoods that they wouldn’t put up with in theirs. Jake McNicholas Whitestone
It might be debatable whether to charge Pantaleo with a crime, but it’s a slam dunk to fire him.
His life was not in jeopardy, and Garner should be alive and breathing today. Al Burns Far Rockaway