Judge recommends firing officer in Eric Garner death

NEW YORK >> An administrative judge on Friday recommended firing the New York City police officer accused of using a chokehold in the 2014 death of an unarmed black man whose dying pleas of “I can’t breathe” became a rallying cry against alleged police brutality.

The city’s police commissioner will make a final decision later this month on whether to fire Officer Daniel Pantaleo over his role in Eric Garner’s death. The New York Police Department suspended Pantaleo from duty shortly after the judge’s decision became public.

Mayor Bill de Blasio hailed the judge’s report as “a step toward justice and accountability,” while the officer’s lawyer and a union leader said it penalized an officer for properly doing his job.

Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, said the judge’s report brought her “some relief” but was overdue and fell short of true accountability.

“It’s past time for Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD to end their obstruction, stop spreading misleading talking points and finally take action for my son,” she said in a statement.

Garner’s death came at a time of a growing public outcry over police killings of unarmed black men that sparked the national Black Lives Matter movement. Just weeks later, protests erupted in Ferguson, Missouri, over the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown.

When a Staten Island grand jury declined to indict Pantaleo, 33, on state charges in December 2014, demonstrations flared in New York and several other cities.

The judge’s findings were provided to Pantaleo’s lawyer and the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the watchdog agency that acted as a prosecutor at his department trial last spring.

Under department rules, Pantaleo’s lawyer will have about two weeks to respond before Police Commissioner James O’Neill makes his decision.

The attorney, Stuart London, said Pantaleo was disappointed in the administrative judge’s recommendation but remains “cautiously optimistic” he ultimately won’t be dismissed.

London and Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch urged O’Neill to stand up for Pantaleo, saying he’d done nothing wrong and firing him would leave officers feeling they can do their jobs without losing them.

“We’re calling on Commissioner O’Neill to save the New York Police Department. Allow us to be effective again,” Lynch said.

Department spokesman Phillip Walzak said Pantaleo’s suspension was standard in disciplinary cases in which termination is recommended. He wouldn’t comment further.

The administrative judge, Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado, had been tasked with deciding whether Pantaleo used a chokehold — banned by police department policy — to take Garner to the ground during a confrontation on a Staten Island street.

Pantaleo’s lawyers argued he used an approved “seat belt” technique to subdue Garner, who refused to be handcuffed after officers accused him of selling untaxed cigarettes.