Pantaleo choking Garner. Photo: YouTube video screenshot
The Rev. Al Sharpton has blasted the Daniel Pantaleo the killer cop who strangled Eric Garner with a vicious chokehold, after he reportedly filed a lawsuit against the New York Police Department to try and win back his job.
Pantaleo reportedly filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Civil Court today claiming his firing by the NYPD was “arbitrary and capricious.” After an administrative NYPD hearing Rosemarie Maldonado the deputy commissioner of Trials recommended that Pantaleo be fired and he was terminated from the force by Police Commissioner James O’Neill in August. He also lost his pension.
Pantaleo’s chokehold killing of Garner on July 17, 2014, was captured on a phone video camera. He was not indicted for the killing by a Staten Island jury.
“Daniel Pantaleo had a fair administrative trial that concluded with an NYPD Judge recommending he be fired immediately,” Sharpton, President of the National Action Network, said in a statement. “Pantaleo’s decision to seek his reinstatement is not only disrespectful to the Police Commissioner and NYPD, but also the Garner family. He has shown no contrition or acknowledgment of his violent actions that ultimately killed Eric Garner. If Pantaleo’s case goes to trial, the National Action Network, Black clergy members, and civil rights leaders will pack the courts while wearing neck braces to show solidarity in our fight for justice for the Garner family and victims of police brutality. And if Pantaleo wins this lawsuit, he will continue to pose a threat to all Black and Brown people in New York City.”