Clear problem

Cop’s alleged choke guilt reversed: sources

THE SECRET is out — at least part of it.

The city’s top cop recently overturned a guilty verdict against an officer in a department misconduct trial. Then the NYPD and the Civilian Complaint Review Board — citing a state law protecting police disciplinary records — wouldn’t say what the cop was accused of.

But sources told the Daily News the cop was charged with using a banned chokehold. The city has withheld the name of the cop, even though the trial was open to the public.

The News reported on Sunday that Police Commissioner James O’Neill rejected the administrative judge’s findings last month. It was the first time O’Neill has overturned an administrative judge since he took over as commissioner in September.

The NYPD and the Civilian Complaint Review Board on Monday continued to stonewall requests by The News for details on the case, including why O’Neill overruled his own judge. They cited Section 50-a of the state Civil Rights Law.

The CCRB routinely releases some summaries of disciplinary cases in its monthly and annual reports.

The use of chokeholds is a particularly sensitive area for the NYPD — especially since the death of Eric Garner in Staten Island in 2014.

Officer Daniel Pantaleo used a chokehold to subdue Garner after he was spotted selling loose cigarettes. Garner died from the chokehold and medical complications.

The city was ordered pay out $5.9 million to his family, and a federal investigation is ongoing.

“In the wake of Eric Garner’s death and the fact the NYPD has a strict policy barring chokeholds, the city needs to come clean with an explanation about why the officer in this case was allowed to escape all discipline,” said Christopher Dunn, Associate Legal Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Added Lumumba Bandele, spokesman for Communities United for Police Reform, “Since the de Blasio administration has taken the city backwards on police transparency, the NYPD refuses to tell the public whether the officer who received a pardon was involved in Eric Garner’s killing.

“The systemic lack of police accountability under de Blasio only ensures chokeholds and brutality continue,” he added.

On Monday, Mayor de Blasio defended his commissioner, while refusing to release more details of the case.

“In terms of the commissioner, I have tremendous faith in his judgment,” he said.