No Indictment From the Grand Jury Convened in Eric Garner Chokehold Case

By Tessa Stuart Wed., Dec. 3 2014 at 3:19 PM

Update, 2:34 a.m. Thursday: Protesters Sweep Manhattan After Eric Garner Decision

A grand jury convened to determine whether to bring criminal charges against Daniel Pantaleo, the police officer who killed Staten Island man Eric Garner, has returned no indictment, multiple outlets are reporting.

The news comes one week after a grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri, declined to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot teenager Michael Brown. Garner and Brown, both black, were killed less than a month apart by white police officers this summer.

See also: 'I Was Choked by the NYPD'

Jonathan Moore, an attorney for the Garner family, did not immediately return a call from the Voice seeking comment, and a call to Douglas Auer, spokesman for the Richmond County District Attorney's office, was likewise not immediately returned. Linda Sachs, spokeswoman for the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which fields complaints about the NYPD, had no comment on the grand jury's decision. The CCRB is presently reviewing multiple complaints it has received pertaining to the Garner case.

On the day he died, officers approached Garner, suspicious that he was illegally selling loose cigarettes. An argument followed. During it, Pantaleo put Garner in a chokehold. The whole thing, including Garner gasping and repeatedly telling the officers he couldn't breathe, was captured on video by Garner's friend Ramsey Orta. A medical examiner would later classify Garner's death as a homicide.

In a statement released through his union, the Patrolman's Benevolent Association, Pantaleo expressed remorse over Garner's death.

"I became a police officer to help people and to protect those who can't protect themselves. It is never my intention to harm anyone and I feel very bad about the death of Mr. Garner," Panatleo said. "My family and I include him and his family in our prayers and I hope that they will accept my personal condolences for their loss."

Pantaleo was stripped of his gun and badge following the incident in July. It remained unclear on Wednesday whether he would return to the force; if he plans to retire from policing, PBA president Patrick Lynch gave no such indication in a statement released on Wednesday. "While we are pleased with the Grand Jury's decision, there are no winners here today. There was a loss of life that both a family and a police officer will always have to live with," Lynch said.

Unlike in Ferguson, witness testimony from the Staten Island grand jury will likely remain sealed. Grand jury testimony and proceedings are by law confidential in New York and virtually every other state. In rare circumstances, testimony from grand juries in New York has been released under court order, but legal experts tell the Voice they doubt any of the grand jury's records will ever see the light of day.

A protester on Wednesday night. C.S. Muncy

On Monday afternoon, the NYPD appeared poised and ready to respond to demonstrations against the verdict. Around noon in Union Square, a Voice reporter counted no fewer than three command trucks -- one at 15th Street and Third Avenue, one at 12th Street and Fourth Avenue, and one at 15th Street and Fourth Avenue -- and 13 officers (at the corner of 15th and Third).

"Hopefully everything will be smooth and it won't ruin the tree lighting tonight," an officer stationed at one of the sites said on Wednesday. The Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting was scheduled to take place that evening in midtown. The event was expected to draw thousands. Mayor Bill de Blasio's office announced that he will skip the ceremony to be in Staten Island.

Vans and police trucks have become a fixture in the neighborhood since crowds began meeting there to protest police brutality a week ago.

"We, as you might expect, are planning accordingly," New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton told reporters Tuesday morning. The commissioner canceled an appearance he was scheduled to make on NY1 Monday evening when the news began to break that afternoon.

Additional reporting by Katie Toth and Jon Campbell.

C.S. Muncy

See additional photos of Wednesday night's protests on the next page.

We Recommend

rburns31

There is no doubt here but the outcome. For God's sake, it was filmed.

I don't know how many cops it took but they killed him. Four of them were on him when he was on the ground yet the skinny one still hadn't released the choke hold. The NYPD will probably have undeniable proof that his socks were too tight causing his circulation to be disrupted.

Aaron_of_Portsmouth

Somehow, it feels that the officer's "regret" is ingenuous. Given the spate of police brutality and assault on people over the past decades, it appears more and more clearly that the tension between the "State" and the people is increasing, rather than decreasing.

It would appear that we are morphing towards a KGB-type of policing which puts more emphasis on hair-trigger responses and less on mental thinking, understanding context, and a successful integration of current social attitudes with the need to respond appropriately in protecting the public.

The NYPD, the police of Ferguson, those in LA, and other regions of the country have failed utterly in training a responsible and "smart" police force for their jurisdictions. Something is dreadfully wrong, and until adequate steps are steps to correct the police's knee-jerk response of deadly response to even the most trivial of offenses, then these atrocities will continue by those in uniform.

Such is the heightened state of distrust that now exists, as it always has, between people of color in this country and those of the status quo who are in control.

"The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established..." wrote Baha'u'llah in the 19th Century in one of his pronouncements on the state of affairs of the world as he perceived it.

For info on the Baha'i Faith check out www.bahai.org

These are strictly my comments and my reflections and in no way are meant as something official.

lloyd_bardell

Eric Garner was unjustly killed no matter what any agency says. Remember Harpers Ferry.

mizz_kiki

Welcome to #AmericanApartheid! Here's hoping the pig goes blind & his children starve to death!

de1061 topcommenter

I'm sure Reverend Al is pleased with this decision.......this will keep him busy through the holidays.

downtownbrown

Why resist arrest? Garner would be alive to day if he had not resisted arrest. Time for "The Talk" again?

43 years old and supporting himself selling loose cigs?

Ella Brians

Unbelievable. And shameful.

Scott Harris

NYPD To Handle Inevitable Eric Garner Demonstrations In Same Manner As Ocupy Wall Street. Sources earlier told CBS2 the NYPD will use the same model as it did to handle Occupy Wall Street protests. Those plans include assigning NYPD task force units to 12-hour shifts, sending in a large contingent of officers on scooters, as well as on foot, and keeping barricade units on standby along with mounted units and aviation. http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/12/02/bratton-as-eric-garner-grand-jury-decision-nears-nypd-readies-for-protests/

KRS1

This is unbelievable.

Kill all the Crackers and Fuck all the Betty Crackers.

The children will be Black

Obey Iman Farrahkan - He will show the true way

Niall Cain

No question it was murder.

djsabatoge

@sarahljaffe @coracurrier aint nothin goin to b smooth, B..u can forget that jack..Power to the People!!

Christina Quinci

Unbelievable.

Matthew Shields

That is shameful. Eric Garner was murdered.

rdsicu

@de1061 Al Sharpton is a racist PIG! Even a Grand jury isn,t good enough for him. What about the millions in taxes he owes! officer . Officer Wilson (in Furgison) was compromised inside of his squad car. That in itself is enough for the kind of defense he had to use. And coming back at the Police officer(like a fool) is enough to to defend yourself again. HOWEVER The man who was choked in Staten Island did nothing wrong. We must see each case as it is ,fair and just. He had just stopped a fight and if he was selling cigarettes so what! He made no serious threats to police officers yet they threw him to the ground for no reason. I agree that some of the police shouldn,t be Police officers.These guys were arrogant and hateful (see the video) However racism is now on both sides of the law

Aaron_of_Portsmouth

@de1061 How does this mindless concept help the situation? Rather than blurt out a cutesy comment, say something with substance, something that shows intelligence, empathy, and offers a glimmer of hope and/or a way out of what afflicts society.

And you are a "TOP COMMENTER"? (Someone has a warped sense of what is tops.)

rdsicu

@downtownbrown Take a look at the tape my friend. He was standing still arguing. Then the police jumped him. Whats wrong with selling cigarettes? Some people don,t make enough to make ends meet,every little bit helps. I guess you and me are doing OK

Aaron_of_Portsmouth

@downtownbrown What business of yours is it to comment publicly on a murdered man's choice of supporting himself? Reconsider your comments before someone writes an unwholesome and callous inscription on your gravestone.

Just saying---and happy holiday to you and your family as well.

sdkid605

@downtownbrown

No cigarettes were found on him or in his car.

Neighborhood snitches got him arrested for nothing and sissy adrenaline junkie cops murdered him on the spot. On video, as well.

Now that Brooklyn US Attorney Loretta Lynch will be taking Holder's job, you will continue to see more the of this in the future.

Only her tolerance for injustice will be Nationwide of The USA, instead.

Coming soon to a neighborhood near you.

rdsicu

@KRS1 Who is this Ahole?

rdsicu

@KRS1 Anmother racist

Aaron_of_Portsmouth

@KRS1 Does anyone today really think that Farrakhan has a clue to what is going on? Any advocate of schism along racial lines is simply just as much in the dark as the KKK, and Roy Bryant of Money, Miss. in the 50's was, and neo-Nazis of today are. Other various and sundry racist groups are in the same quandary as Farrakhan regarding the genesis and the real reason for what is happening.

downtownbrown

@KRS1 Wacism be alive and well and shit. Thanks for advocating genocide.

atlanticxing35k

@rdsicu @de1061 If Sharpton really wanted to help the black community he would disappear; never appear on camera again.

de1061 topcommenter

It's not a mindless concept....it's what the Rev does best. Sharpton thrives on this......he gets attention, keeps his name in the media, gets invited to the White House (how is that even allowed to happen?), and continues to blame the white man for all of the blacks problems. All the while deflecting the fact that he's a race baiting, tax cheat.