Excerpt: "The Justice Department will not bring federal charges against a New York City police officer in the death of Eric Garner, ending a yearslong inquiry into a case that sharply divided officials and prompted national protests over excessive force by the police."
Gwen Carr, Eric Garner's mother, spoke at a press conference on Tuesday after the Justice Department declined to pursue federal charges against a New York City police officer in his 2014 death. (photo: Demetrius Freeman/NYT)
16 July 19
The decision came five years after Mr. Garner’s dying words — “I can’t breathe” — became a rallying cry.
he Justice Department will not bring federal charges against a New York City police officer in the death of Eric Garner, ending a yearslong inquiry into a case that sharply divided officials and prompted national protests over excessive force by the police.
The United States attorney in Brooklyn, Richard P. Donoghue, announced the decision not to bring criminal civil rights charges on Tuesday morning, one day before the fifth anniversary of Mr. Garner’s death. That is the deadline by which they would have to file some of the possible charges against the officer, Daniel Pantaleo.
Mr. Donoghue called Mr. Garner’s death a tragedy, but said “the evidence does not support charging Police Officer Pantaleo with a federal civil rights violation.” He went over the entire arrest step-by-step and said the government could not prove Officer Pantaleo willfully used excessive force to violate Mr. Garner’s rights as required under the law.