Trial Summary: Tuesday, May 14, 2019
Day 2 of Pantaleo on Trial
CCRB administrative/disciplinary prosecution of Daniel Pantaleo for killing Eric Garner – NYPD Police Commissioner O’Neill will make a final decision on disciplinary penalty for Pantaleo – if any – for killing Eric Garner.*
Tuesday, May 14, 2019 was the second day of the administrative trial of NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo, related to discipline charges that the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) brought against him for using a chokehold on Eric Garner and killing him on July 17, 2014 in Staten Island. After the NYPD failed to bring charges or move the discipline case against Pantaleo or other officers responsible for killing Eric and the attempted cover-up, the CCRB substantiated discipline charges against Pantaleo in 2017. However, the NYPD blocked those charges from being served until summer of 2018, and didn’t turn over files of evidence to the CCRB until that time. **Despite multiple attempts to block CCRB’s prosecution of Pantaleo and last-minute attempts to delay the trial from moving forward by Pantaleo’s police union lawyers, the trial began on Monday May 13th – almost five years after Eric was killed.
Day 2 of the trial included two witnesses, called by CCRB:
- Michael Lewis, a long-time Staten Island resident who took cellphone video of part of the killing of Eric Garner, on July 17, 2014.
- NYPD Inspector Richard Dee, Commanding Officer of the NYPD Recruit Training section of the Police Academy.
Highlights from witness testimony and cross examination
Michael Lewis, a long-time Staten Island resident who took cellphone video of part of the killing of Eric Garner, on July 17, 2014. Mr. Lewis was on the block when Eric Garner was killed. Before officers approached Eric Garner, Lewis saw Garner breaking up a fight between two men. Soon after, when Lewis came out of a store, he saw officers hassling Eric Garner. As Lewis walked by, he told the cops that Garner wasn’t doing anything, and that he had just broken up a fight. Lewis testified that he saw Officer Daniel Pantaleo jump on Garner and pull him back with Pantaleo’s arm around Garner’s neck. When Eric was on the ground, Lewis told officers to call 911.
During cross-examination, John Tynan, one of Pantaleo’s attorneys tried to use a line of questioning intended to blame Garner for the false arrest by officers, in spite of numerous objections by CCRB that were sustained by Deputy Commissioner of Trials Maldonado. Lewis stayed calm and consistent throughout Tynan’s badgering.
NYPD Inspector Richard Dee, Commanding Officer of the NYPD Recruit Training section of the Police Academy. When Eric Garner was killed, Inspector Dee was the 2nd in command of the Police Academy, responsible for monitoring and coordinating all training sections at the Academy.
Inspector Dee testified that Pantaleo joined the NYPD in 2006, and that the prohibition against chokeholds was explicit and without exception from the period that Pantaleo joined, through the time that he killed Garner. The NYPD definition of a chokehold was read aloud in court, directly from the Use of Force section of the NYPD Patrol Guide, Section 203-11:
“A chokehold shall include, but is not limited to, any pressure to the throat or windpipe, which may prevent or hinder breathing or reduce intake of air.”
Later, when asked if what Pantaleo did was a chokehold, Inspector Dee responded that it “meets the definition of a chokehold”.
Dee testified that the NYPD’s prohibition on chokeholds was made clear, not only in the Patrol Guide, but also in academic and gym training of all recruits.
Directly discrediting Pantaleo’s defense claims that Pantaleo was only using a “seatbelt maneuver, Dee testified that the so-called “seatbelt maneuver” was not part of any Police Academy curricula or lesson plans as an approved technique when Pantaleo was in the Academy in 2006. Pantaleo went through plainclothes training in October 2008. Inspector Dee testified that the so-called “seatbelt maneuver” was also not in the training curricula in 2008, when Pantaleo went through plainclothes training. The first time the maneuver was used in any NYPD training was 2011. Inspector Dee’s testimony also made clear that no part of the so-called “seatbelt maneuver” requires contact with a person’s neck.
In attendance Day 2
Gwen & Benjamin Carr, the parents of Eric Garner were joined today by many – both inside the trial room and supporters outside 1 Police Plaza - including Iris Baez, the mother of Anthony Baez, who was killed by NYPD Officer Francis Livoti’s chokehold in 1994, 20 years before Eric was killed. Livoti was fired by the NYPD before the DOJ prosecuted Livoti for violating Anthony’s civil rights. Livoti was convicted and sentenced on federal charges for the killing of Anthony Baez. Organizations that came out to support Eric Garner’s family today included: Justice Committee, DSA NYC, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, Justice League NYC, Legal Aid Society, National Action Network, SURJ NYC, and other CPR members and partners.
* NYPD Commissioner O’Neill’s decision regarding what Pantaleo’s discipline will be (if any discipline) will happen after the disciplinary trial – and could take weeks to months. O’Neill’s decision could be to implement what Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado recommends, or he can make the penalty less or more than recommended.
** Additional background on CCRB’s prosecution of Daniel Pantaleo:
Although NYPD had the authority to charge and prosecute Pantaleo (as they do with all officers), they did not. Be clear that this trial against Pantaleo would not be happening right now if CCRB had not pushed to make sure it was happening.
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