The death of Eric Garner was one of the more emotional videos.
One of the issues was whether an illegal “choke hold” was used. Simply grabbing someone around the neck is not a choke hold.
A grand jury refused to indict.
Now, as reported by The New York Post, federal prosecutors intend to charge the policeman involved:
Washington-based federal prosecutors plan to aggressively pursue charges against NYPD cop Daniel Pantaleo for the chokehold death of Eric Garner on Staten Island, a law enforcement source told The Post on Tuesday.“It’s going to happen sooner than later,” the source said of an indictment. “Washington wants to indict him.”Federal investigators in Brooklyn were replaced by DC counterparts because of their reluctance to bring charges, the source said.The New York feds are privately seething. They accused their Beltway colleagues of trying to “make an example out of Pantaleo” at any cost, said one source familiar with the case.“We already … came to a conclusion which they didn’t like. It’s truly disgraceful what they’re doing,” the source said.
The alleged movement towards charges comes after a shake-up in the federal investigation, as the New York Times recently reported:
The Justice Department has replaced the New York team of agents and lawyers investigating the death of Eric Garner, officials said, a highly unusual shake-up that could jump-start the long-stalled case and put the government back on track to seek criminal charges.Federal authorities have been investigating whether officers violated Mr. Garner’s civil rights in his fatal encounter with the police. But the case had been slowed by a dispute because federal prosecutors and Federal Bureau of Investigation officials in New York opposed bringing charges, while prosecutors with the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department in Washington argued there was clear evidence to do so.Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, who as the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York oversaw the beginning of the federal inquiry before her appointment to Washington, has been considering for months how to proceed.In recent weeks, the F.B.I. agents who have been investigating the case were replaced with agents from outside New York, according to five federal officials in New York and Washington. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn are no longer assigned to the case. It is not clear whether civil rights prosecutors from Washington will work alone in presenting evidence to a grand jury in Brooklyn and in trying the case if charges are eventually brought.
Here are links to some of our prior related coverage:
I thought Andrew Branca did an analysis of the choke hold at Legal Insurrection, but I can’t find the post.
But this video analysis covers the same material:
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY