US probe grinds on in chokehold death

NEW YORK » When federal prosecutors asked to meet last month with Eric Garner’s family, it stoked speculation that their investigation into his death was finally nearing a resolution three years after his last words — “I can’t breathe” — became a rallying cry for protests over police killings of black men. The speculation was wrong: The same day of the Brooklyn meeting, a grand jury heard testimony from a police academy instructor on takedown tactics, dragging out a presentation that began last year, said two people familiar with the secret panel’s work. Justice Department prosecutors have privately told both the frustrated Garner family and police union attorneys that any decision about whether to charge the officer who killed Garner is months away, according to the people, who weren’t authorized to discuss the case and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.