#GarnerInquiry Daily Summaries

• Monday, October 25th - Friday, October 29th, 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM

• Wednesday, November 3rd - Friday, November 5th, 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM

• There may be additional dates during the week of November 8th

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Daily Court Summary for Judicial Inquiry: November 4, 2021

The seventh day of the Judicial Inquiry proceedings continued on Thursday, November 4.

Witnesses called today:

• Lt. Luke Gasquez, who was in charge of leading the IAB investigation into Eric Garner’s killing.

Session resumed with an argument over a document, consisting of notes compiled by Lt. Gasquez, which he used in yesterday’s session to refresh his memory as to the various dates in the investigation, and whether that document should be turned over to the petitioners. Judge rules that the doc must be shared, immediately.

Questioning of Luke Gasquez continued, retracing the steps of the investigation by IAB, making use of Internal Case Management System documents (the worksheets used by IAB to document the investigative steps as they are taking them). These are compiled by a reporting officer—Gasquez, in this case—then sent to a reviewing supervisor, who endorses the document. Petitioners move to enter 93 of these into evidence, but judge ruled that they would have to be admitted one by one as they come up. These include summaries of conversations with witnesses, both civilians and NYPD. 

Lt. Gasquez testified to petitioners’ counsel Gabriel Jaime-Bettan, of the law firm Davis Polk and Wardwell LLP, that when Sgt. Saminath called in to the command center that Eric Garner was being taken in an ambulance to Richmond County University Medical Center he made no reference to Officer Daniel Pantaleo’s arm having been around Garner’s head or neck or to the fact that Garner had difficulty breathing.

Noting that the first article in the New York Times about Garner’s death, dated July 17, 2014, said, “The police said he had been arrested numerous times, most recently in May on charges of illegal cigarette sales. Mr. Garner weighed well over 300 pounds, the police said,” Jaime-Bettan asked Gasquez who in NYPD would have had access to this info. Respondents objected that the news article was outside scope of the inquiry but Judge Edwards overruled them, since it concerns the leak of Eric Garner’s legal records, which is one of the areas of the inquiry.

Gasquez said he had “no idea” who outside of IAB Group 54 would have had access to this information. But petitioners’ counsel pointed out that the article predated the release of the video, and that the article said the police provided the information.

Petitioners’ counsel introduced to evidence, from the IAB’s own interviews, a total of nine eyewitnesses who testified that there had been a fight on Bay Street between two individuals and Eric Garner had broken it up, and seven eyewitnesses who testified that Garner had not sold any cigarettes that day. Jaime-Bettan notes that D’Amico claimed he saw Garner sell cigarettes from hundreds of feet away, then a second sale while he was pulling up to the sidewalk, but this contradicts even Pantaleo’s own testimony that he didn’t see a sale, plus the seven eyewitnesses, so in the accounts of a single officer against eight New York City residents, the officer just wins out?

Gasquez admits the IAB didn’t show D’Amico pictures of the scene and ask him about how he could see the alleged sale from his vantage point, or since he was wearing glasses, whether he had had his prescription updated recently. Gasquez says he still believes D’Amico had probable cause to arrest Eric Garner on that day.

Gasquez says IAB did not ask D’Amico whether he believed Pantaleo had used a chokehold on Eric Garner in the moment, but looking back at the video they did ask him and he said no. Counsel asked him if he found it credible when D’Amico testified that he didn’t hear Garner say “I can’t breathe” 11 times, and Gasquez said yes, because “it’s common to get tunnel vision when you’re involved in a fight or confrontation.”

Counsel asked, “Do you believe he acted reasonably by not intervening in Officer Pantaleo’s use of force?” and Gasquez said “Yes, I don’t know what he saw or didn’t see. I know he’s a lot smaller than Eric Garner,” and probably a lot weaker. “He was probably zoned in on placing Mr. Garner in handcuffs.”

Asked why Internal Affairs reviewed CCRB recommendations for charges (against Bannon and Saminath for failure to supervise and D’Amico for failure to intervene in use of force) July 7, 2018—nearly a year after the CCRB referred them to the IAB on August 31, 2017—Gasquez said he didn’t know why, but it might have been due to the fact that the FBI and federal Dept of Justice were involved. “I’m unsure.” He said on July 17, 2017, Internal Affairs closed the CCRB charges against Bannon as “unfounded,” and on July 18 they found the charges against Saminath as “unfounded.” Internal Affairs conducted no further investigations of its own after that.

Gasquez also said there was no Internal Affairs investigation of the alleged leaking of Eric Garner’s criminal records.

After testimony concluded, Alvin Bragg, counsel for petitioners, asked Judge Edwards to call one additional witness in the inquiry besides the two who are left after Gasquez: Kevin Richardson, leader of Department Advocate’s Office. He said the goal of inquiry is transparency, and given how many questions witnesses yesterday and today were unable to answer, calling Richardson could help clarify “the void in the record” about why so many key matters were not investigated. Judge Edwards denied the arguments and said that calling an additional witness won’t add to transparency. Judge Edwards also denies petitioners’ motion for summations at end of inquiry.

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Daily Court Summary for Judicial Inquiry: November 3^rd, 2021

The sixth day of the Judicial Inquiry proceedings continued on Wednesday, November 3^rd.

Witnesses called today included:

• Sgt. Kizzy Adonis, the only other officer, besides Pantaleo, was disciplined, losing vacation days in a plea deal negotiated with the NYPD so that she could avoid a discipline trial.
• Lt. Bekim Kalicovic who approved the arrest record in which Officer Justin Damico filed false felony charges against Eric Garner after he was killed.
• Sgt. Luke Gasquez, who was in charge of leading the IAB investigation into Eric Garner’s killing.

Sgt. Kizzy Adonis was questioned by Diane O. Lucas, lawyer for the petitioners. Sgt. Adonis was on her way to a meeting when she received the call from the scene for assistance, and arrived to “oversee everything and make sure no misconduct or excessive force was used.” She testified that she saw four officers on top of Eric Garner. She heard him say “I can’t breathe,” but did not believe that he was having trouble breathing because he was able to speak. Though she confirmed that Garner was not able to move his own body and was verbally unresponsive, she said she could see him breathing. She testified that when Officer Meems had taken Garner’s pulse, she asked, “Billy, is he good?” to which Officer Meems said, “Yes.” Throughout her time at the scene, she did not give any directives to any other officers, nor did she see Sgt. Saminath give any directives. She left the scene once Garner was on a gurney being taken to an ambulance.

In her testimony, Sgt. Adonis denied saying, “let him go, let him go, he’s done,” which two civilian witnesses quoted her as saying in a New York Times article. She said she didn’t hear anyone else say “ease up” or “let up” while she was on the scene. 

Sgt. Adonis, who started at the Staten Island precinct two weeks prior to July 17, 2014, was the only NYPD officer to have had Internal Affairs Bureau charges and specifications brought against her, despite Sgt. Saminath being the Patrol Supervisor and Anti-Crime Supervisor at the time of Eric Garner’s arrest and killing. For her “failure to supervise” she was placed on administrative duty and lost 20 days of vacation. The reasoning for her charges by the IAB were never explained to her, and she still “doesn’t know why [she] was charged at all.”

Cpt. Bekim Kalicovic was then questioned by Matthew Kelly, lawyer for the petitioners. Cpt. Kalicovic was overseeing all command operations in the 120th Precinct in Staten Island on the day of Eric Garner’s arrest and killing. He was the superior who reviewed and signed off on the arrest reports that Officer Damico submitted and included false felony charges against Eric Garner.

(More updates from 11/3/21 to come)

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Daily Court Summary for Judicial Inquiry: October 29^th, 2021

The fifth day of Judicial Inquiry proceedings continued on Friday, October 29^th.

Witnesses called today included: 

• Sgt. Dhanan Saminath
• Officer William Meems who, during his testimony stated that the NYPD Patrol Guide was a “guide, not a rule” and failed to provide adequate medical care to Eric Garner despite taking and EMT course just two years prior.

Highlights from the day’s testimony are below:

Sargeant Dhanan Saminath was questioned by Diane O. Lucas, lawyer for the petitioners. This was the second day of Sgt. Saminath’s testimony. He described his role as patrol supervisor on the scene the day Eric Garner was killed by the NYPD. Lt. Bannon, who would later text Saminath that it was “not a big deal” Eric Garner might be dead on arrival, directed Sgt. Saminath to send officers to the area of 200 Bay Street. "Members of the service are required to maintain control or intervene if the use of force against a subject clearly becomes excessive. Failure to do so may result in both criminal and civil liability. Excessive force will not be tolerated." Despite speaking with Officer Pantaleo when he arrived on scene, and despite seeing the video of Eric Garner’s killing after the fact, he did not report any of the officers he was supervising for misconduct.

Officer William Meems was questioned by Gideon Oliver, lawyer for the petitioners. Meems was driving Sgt. Kizzy Adonis the day Eric Garner was killed and responded to the scene with her. He saw Mr. Garner when he arrived at the scene and could see that someone had their hands on him. He later testified that he saw former Officer Daniel Pantaleo ”applying pressure” to Mr. Garner’s head. Officer Meems, who had taken an EMT course just two years prior to Eric Garner’s killing, testified that he believed Mr. Garner was “passively resisting” arrest when he was unconscious. When he attempted to check to see if Mr. Garner was responsive by using a sternum rub to produce a painful stimulus and Mr. Garner didn’t respond to the stimulus, Officer Meems said “Some people can fake it. Some people can't.”

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Daily Court Summary for Judicial Inquiry: October 28th, 2021

The fourth day of Judicial Inquiry proceedings continued on Thursday, October 28^th.

Witnesses called today included: 

• Officer Mark Ramos who was one of the only officers who said he heard Eric Garner say “I can’t breathe,” and still did not take any steps to immediately provide medical care to Mr. Garner.
• Officer Craig Furlani who was able to retire before being held accountable for his role and misconduct in the killing of Eric Garner.
• Sgt. Dhanan Saminath was the person who received a text from Lt. Bannon saying it was “not a big deal” Eric had been killed and the supervisor on the scene.  

Before witnesses provided testimony in today’s proceeding, Justice Erika M. Edwards discussed a motion that we filed the previous night asking the court to reconsider calling Mayor de Blasio, NYPD Commissioners and other high ranking officials to testify as part of this judicial inquiry.

During court proceedings on Tuesday, October 26^th, Chief Joseph Reznick who heads the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau, made clear that while the NYPD’s Department Advocates Office (DAO) can provide input into the scope and target of IAB investigations, the IAB has no role in disciplinary decisions, including in the disciplinary decisions that were and were not made related to the killing of Eric Garner on July 17, 2014.

Given Reznick’s testimony, petitioners in this matter filed papers to request that Justice Erika M. Edwards reconsider her earlier decision to exclude certain top City officials from being required to testify.

After the lunch break, Alvin Bragg, lawyer for the petitioner, argued in favor of the motion because, based on new evidence provided in Reznick’s testimony, it’s clear that additional witnesses need to be part of this judicial inquiry. Justice Erika M. Edwards said she would make a decision tomorrow after she’s reviewed all the materials included in the filing in full.

Highlights from witness testimony today is included below:

Officer Mark Ramos was questioned by Meredith Manning of Davis, Polk, and Wardwell LLP, finished up his second day of testimony this morning. Officer Ramos is one of the only officers who have claimed they could hear Eric Garner say “I can’t breathe” and he was further away from Eric Garner than Officer Damico, Pantaleo, or Fulani. Officer Ramos also said that he told the EMTs who arrived on scene that he believed Eric Garner was “playing possum,” or in other words, faking his medical distress to avoid arrest.

Officer Craig Furlani was questioned by Meredith Manning. Officer Furlani testified today that he retired earlier this year, on July 1, 2021. Throughout his testimony, Furlani mentioned several times that he was focused on getting Eric Garner into handcuffs and did not see Officer Damico push on Eric Garner’s head. Even when he heard Eric Garner say “I can’t breathe” Furlani continued to attempt to get Eric Garner in handcuffs. Furlani also said that he wasn’t concerned at the time Eric Garner was repeating the words “I can’t breathe” because he was able to tell the officers that, and he provided no medical care to Eric Garner, including checking his vitals, pupils, airways, or by calling for an ambulance.

Sgt. Saminath was questioned by Diane O. Lucas of Davis, Polk, and Wardwell LLP, lawyer for the petitioners. Ms. Lucas began her questioning talking about Lt. Bannon’s orders to Sgt. Saminath to go to the area of 200 Bay Street. Ms. Lucas discussed previous testimony prior to this judicial inquiry, where it came out that Lt. Bannon told Sgt. Saminath to “collar the cigarette guy.” Sgt. Saminath said he didn’t remember that conversation. Ms. Lucas also asked about whether Lt. Bannon texted him to direct him to send officers to the area of 200 Bay St. Sgt. Saminath responded “No, I don’t remember ever getting a text from him in regards to that.” Earlier this week, during judicial inquiry proceedings, when asked about a text from Lt. Bannon to Sgt. Saminath Officer Justin Damico testified that Sgt. Saminath showed him a text on his phone from Lt. Bannon, that indicated to go to Bay St. Sgt. Saminath also said he was “playing the role of patrol supervisor” from the point when he arrived on the scene, but did not intervene in excessive use of force, or report any misconduct by officers under his supervision. 

In addition, after it was clear that Eric Garner was unresponsive, Saminath directed officers to search Eric Garner’s pockets, and allowed him to be kept handcuffed as they awaited an ambulance and Mr. Garner was unconscious.

Court proceedings will continue tomorrow with Sgt. Saminath's testimony. 

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Daily Court Summary for Judicial Inquiry: October 27th, 2021

The third day of Judicial Inquiry proceedings continued on Wednesday, October 27^th.

Witnesses called included: 

• Officer Justin Damico 
• Officer Mark Ramos

Questioning of NYPD Officer Justin Damico by Gideon Oliver continued for a third day. Damico confirmed when he was as much as 350 feet away from Eric Garner when he allegedly observed him selling cigarettes, from the passenger seat of an unmarked police car. They drove toward Garner and two others standing with him in front of 202 Bay Street and Damico allegedly witnessed another exchange of 1 cigarette for a single bill from “within a few feet away” – a second sale he has never discussed in previous testimony.

Oliver clarified that this testimony appears inconsistent from Damico’s past testimony from transcript in which he did not note this second observed exchange, between the first observation and the actual attempt to arrest. Judge Erika M. Edwards affirmed that this second stop is new information.

During a rewatch of video footage taken by Ramsey Orta, Damico recounted talking to Garner for about 8 minutes, at which point he began to reach for his pepper spray intending to escalate his use of force, an escalation that does not align with the continuum of use-of-force in the patrol guide. Damico said he doesn’t remember if he saw Pantaleo’s arm around Garner’s neck at the time. When asked if he remembered hearing Garner say “I can’t breathe,” he said “I honestly do not remember him saying that.” Damico said he doesn’t remember what Garner’s physical condition was at that time, however many officers, including Damico attempted to stand Mr. Garner up, even though he was unconscious at the time.

Damico confirmed that he did not offer any medical care (checking the pulse) of Eric Garner and that he did not see anyone give CPR at any point.

NYPD Officer Mark Ramos was then questioned by Meredith Manning of Davis, Polk, and Wardwell, lawyer for the petitioners. He confirmed that he heard Garner say “I can’t breathe.” Officer Ramos testified that he was one of the officers who assisted in handcuffing Eric Garner. He confirmed that once handcuffed, Garner stops moving and stops speaking. He was one of the officers that tried to stand him up, but they failed, Mr. Ramos claimed because “he was a large man.” Eric Garner was not responsive at the time. After they handcuffed Eric Garner, Ramos moved away from the scene, he testified that he did not perform CPR on Mr. Garner or call for an ambulance. When asked if he heard anyone radio for an ambulance after Mr. Garner was unresponsive, he responded “No, I don’t remember.” A few minutes later he was asked if he thought an ambulance was necessary, to which he answered “I believe someone called it over” but couldn’t remember who. When asked again, to confirm why he believed someone called an ambulance and if someone said that to him, he said “No, just radio transmissions,” contradicting his previous answer to the question about whether he heard anyone radio for an ambulance.

Testimony of Officer Ramos and Craig Furlani will continue on Thursday, October 28, 2021.

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Daily Court Summary for Judicial Inquiry: October 26^th, 2021

October 26th was the second day of the historic judicial inquiry into the violations and neglect of duties by Mayor de Blasio and top City officials related to the killing of Eric Garner and the 7+ years of cover up that followed. 

Witnesses called today included: 

• Officer Justin Damico who filed false felony charges after he knew Eric Garner was dead and claimed to never hear Eric Garner say the words, “I can’t breathe.”
• Deputy Commissioner of the Internal Affairs Bureau, Joseph Reznick, who claimed today that the IAB, which is tasked with investigating corruption and misconduct within the NYPD, never investigated the leaks of Eric Garner’s medical records or arrest records, and claimed the NYPD provided sufficient medical care to Eric Garner.

Highlights from witness testimony today is included below:

NYPD Officer Justin Damico was questioned by Gideon Oliver, police misconduct attorney and a past President of the New York City Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. Judge Erika M. Edwards started off the questioning of officer Damico to clarify testimony he gave the previous day, regarding why he chose to file felony charges against Eric Garner on July 17, 2014. Officer Damico mentioned that he had rushed himself in filling out the paperwork but did not provide a clear answer to why he filed felony charges (which would have required Eric Garner to have 10,000 cigarettes in his possession) on his handwritten arrest record, but not in the NYPD computer system. He also admitted that in his memo book, he had written that the officers used force against Eric Garner, but in the On-Line Booking System (OLBS) he claimed no force was used, and admitted the information he put in the OLBS was wrong.

In his paperwork regarding the stop of Eric Garner, Damico wrote that Eric complained of chest pain, which he admitted today did not happen. Despite Eric Garner saying “I can’t breathe” 11 times over the course of the stop, Officer Justin Damico, who was there, claimed he never heard Eric Garner say those words. In addition to these revelations, Officer Damico discussed the book of targets that Lt. Christopher Bannon had in his office, with photographs of 3-4 men, one of them being Eric Garner.

Officer Damico will return to court for a 3^rd day to continue his testimony tomorrow, October 27^th.

Deputy Commissioner of the Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB), Joseph Reznick, was questioned by Erika James of Davis, Polk, and Wardwell LLP. Deputy Commissioner Reznick oversees the Internal Affairs Bureau, which is meant to investigate NYPD corruption and misconduct, and reports directly to the NYPD Commissioner. The NYPD Commissioner is appointed by the Mayor of NYC City. Despite this, Reznick stated that “I just work for NYPD. I don’t work for the Mayor, City Hall.” During today’s testimony, we learned that Deputy Commissioner Reznick was on vacation the day of Eric Garner’s killing July 17th, and the two days afterward, the 18^th and 19^th. He claimed it was his decision to place Daniel Pantaleo on Modified duty on the 19^th, two days after the incident. He did not consider placing any other officers on modified duty.

Chief Reznick confirmed that the Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB) investigated a total seven subjects:  Lt. Bannon, Saminath, Adonis, Pantaleo, D’Amico, Ramos and Fulani.  He received regular oral updates from Deputy Inspector Charles Barton.

Two exhibits were placed into evidence, Exhibit 302, an internal worksheet labeled “follow-up” and later Exhibit 304, titled “Executive Summary – IAB Group 54/C-2014-0449.” Reznick testified no other documents outside of these two contain the allegations and findings with respect to the investigations of officers. With respect to the use of prohibited force, Reznick stated that IAB had concluded that Pantaleo had used excessive force but no one else did, despite multiple officers holding Eric Garner down in photos and videos of his killing.

At the time of Eric’s killing, Reznick believed the charges filed by Officer Damico were proper, but that he has since found out that this was in error and the charging of a felony was inappropriate. Today he stated, “It still baffles me why would be an “E” felony.” Reznick also admitted to the court that he didn’t know selling “loosies” was a crime.

Court adjourned until 9:30am Wednesday, 10/27, when petitioners will continue to question Justin Damico and additional officers. The schedule of witnesses for tomorrow’s proceedings was still being determined.

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Daily Court Summary for Judicial Inquiry: October 25^th, 2021

October 25th was the first day of the historic judicial inquiry into the violations and neglect of duties by Mayor de Blasio and top City officials related to the killing of Eric Garner and the 7+ years of cover up that followed.

Judge Erika M. Edwards began the proceedings by providing an overview of the areas that judicial inquiry will cover, including the stop and arrest of Mr. Garner and force used by officers other than Pantaleo; the filing of false felony charges on official documents concerning Mr. Garner’s arrest; the alleged leaking of Mr. Garner’s alleged arrest record and medical condition; the alleged lack of medical care provided by officers on the scene. In addition to these areas, Alvin Bragg, lawyer for the petitioners, added the judicial inquiry will also cover investigations and discipline of officers who were responsible for killing Eric and statements that were made to the press regarding these areas, which the judge confirmed. 

Witnesses called today included: 

• Lt. Chrisopher Bannon who on July 17th, 2014, was a Special Operations Lieutenant for 120th precinct, Staten Island, and texted it was "not a big deal" when he learned Eric Garner might be "dead on arrival." Bannon also racially profiled Black New Yorkers gathered at 200 Bay St, which led to Mr. Garner's unconstitutional stop.

• Officer Justin Damico, who was the only person to claim that he saw Eric Garner selling cigarettes, filed false felony charges after he knew Eric Garner was dead, and lied in official reports. 

Highlights from witness testimony today is included below:

NYPD Lt. Christopher Bannon was questioned by Alvin Bragg, Co-Director of New York Law School’s (NYLS) Racial Justice Project and former NYS Chief Deputy Attorney General. Bannon testified that he was part of “Quality of Life” meetings held at 1 Police Plaza, NYPD headquarters in March 2014. “Quality of life” policing is what NYPD and others use to describe "broken windows" policing, the enforcement of low-level offenses. Lt. Bannon claimed that on July 17^th, 2014, he “observed a group of individuals gathering in front of” 200 Bay Street in Staten Island, where Eric Garner was killed, and ordered officers to go to the location, saying "I told Sergeant Saminath what I observed, there may be 14 something going on". He didn't, however,  see any sale of cigarettes, any cigarettes at all, or money exchange hands, yet he still ordered Sgt. Dhanan Saminath to go to the location.  He also claimed he could not determine the race of the individuals gathered at 200 Bay Street.

During the testimony, lawyers for the petitioner introduced an exhibit that depicted a text message exchange between Lt. Bannon and Sgt. Dhanan Samanath in which Lt. Bannon texted it was “not a big deal” that Eric Garner might be “dead on arrival.” Bannon also testified that he didn’t know how the screenshot of his text messages entered public record.  

Christopher Bannon directed Daniel Pantaleo to generate an arrest against Eric Garner, after Eric Garner had been killed.  

NYPD Officer Justin Damico was questioned by Gideon Oliver, police misconduct attorney and a past President of the New York City Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. During his questioning, lawyers for the petitioners reviewed exhibits including Damico’s memo book, that provided a timeline for his actions throughout the day Eric Garner was killed, including the fact that he filed false arrest records hours after Eric Garner was killed.

Lawyers for the petitioners asked Officer Damico about the handwritten arrest record he filed, with felony charges listed for Eric Garner. He later stated that he did not observe the conditions for the corresponding charges that he filed (Tax Law 1814A), which would have required Eric to be in possession of 10,000 cigarettes or 400 pounds of tobacco, and he filed them hours after he knew Eric Garner was dead. He claimed he chose the charges from a drop down box on a computer system, but the arrest record that the court reviewed was handwritten, prompting the Judge Edwards to ask,“I want to be fair to everybody. … But I’m confused. When you’re writing down a charge and you realize you’re charging a man with a felony, why did you continue with that charge?”.

Officer Damico said, “That could have just been me not understanding the correct top charge.” It is still unclear as to why Damico filed felony charges against Eric Garner. Questioning on this matter will continue tomorrow.

Court adjourned until 9:30am Tuesday 10/26, when petitioners will continue to question Justin Damico, followed Joseph Reznick, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Internal Affairs, and then return to questioning Justin Damico.