Complaints about chokeholds reviewed internally for disciplinary purposes by the NYPD resulted mainly in a slap on the wrist, according to the Civilian Complaint Review Board.
Of the 10 incidents involving chokeholds from 2009 to 2014 substantiated by the CCRB, an independent agency, three resulted in the officer being sentenced to retraining and one resulted in a loss of at least 10 vacation days.
The NYPD declined to internally try two of the cases. And three cases are still pending. In the last case, the officer either resigned retired before a ruling was made.
On Thursday, Eric Garner, 43, died while in police custody in Staten Island after being arrested and allegedly placed in a chokehold by Officer Daniel Pantaleo. Garner was being arrested for allegedly selling individual, untaxed cigarettes.
Pantaleo, an eight-year veteran of the NYPD, had his badge and gun taken away and was placed on modified duty, police said. A second, unidentified officer who was present during the incident, was placed on desk duty and four EMS workers who responded to the incident were placed on modified duty.
Following Garner’s death, CCRB said they will review the more than 1,000 chokehold allegations they received from 2009 to 2013.
The circumstances surround the 10 substantiated cases were unclear. They mostly took place in Brooklyn and the Bronx and did not include any cases from Staten Island precincts, where Garner died.
(Alison Fox)
