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NYPD Police-mayor tensions mount over chokehold death

Police have become increasingly at odds with Mayor Bill de Blasio over the appearance he is taking sides against them after the chokehold death of a black suspect last month — a conflict that has prompted the city's top law enforcement official to do damage control by calling the mayor "very pro-cop." 

What angered many was a recent forum in which the Rev. Al Sharpton, one of the biggest critics of the New York Police Department, was seated alongside the mayor, a liberal Democrat, and the police commissioner as he lambasted law enforcement and suggested the mayor's mixed-race son would be a "candidate for a chokehold" if he were an ordinary New Yorker. The image was seized on by critics of the administration and plastered on the cover of the New York Post with the headline "Who's the Boss!"

"It is outrageously insulting to all police officers to say that we go out on our streets to choke all people of color as Al Sharpton stated while seated at the table right next to our mayor at City Hall," said Patrick Lynch, head of the powerful Patrolmen's Benevolent Association. Another union official, Ed Mullins of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, hinted at a work slowdown at the nation's largest police department.

Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani even weighed in, saying in a radio interview thatde Blasio made a "big mistake .... setting up a press conference like that and putting a police commissioner in that situation. That's extremely damaging to the police commissioner, to keep up the morale of the police."

In recent days, emails have circulated among police officers showing a mock identification card with a picture of Sharpton and the title "Police Commissioner." The activist has shot back by claiming he has the ear of federal officials who have the authority to bring civil rights charges in the death of Eric Garner.

"It is time to have a mature conversation about policing rather than immature name calling and childish attempts to scapegoat," Sharpton said in a statement.

Bratton responded to the uproar by giving a series of interviews Friday defending his department's record on race and de Blasio's attitude toward the department.

"We are not a racist organization," Bratton told The Associated Press. "And I will challenge anybody despite their perceptions of police on that issue. This is a department that goes where the problems are — whether it's crime or disorder."

De Blasio, he added, "is very pro-cop. ... This is not an anti-police mayor."

The rift stems from Eric Garner's arrest on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes in Staten Island. Amateur video appears to show an officer putting the asthmatic, 350-pound father of six in a banned chokehold after he refused to be handcuffed. He yells, "I can't breathe!" as several officers take him down.

A city medical examiner found that the 43-year-old Garner was killed by neck compression from the chokehold along with "the compression of his chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police." Asthma, heart disease and obesity were contributing factors.

The finding increased the likelihood that the case will be presented to a grand jury to determine whether any of the arresting officers will face criminal charges. It also has fueled the biggest crisis yet for de Blasio, who took office this year vowing to achieve two goals that, at times, can be contradictory: He said he would drive down crime and repair strained relations between police and the community.

"Every law enforcement official, every officer has to serve the people in this city," the mayor said. "The vast majority of people in the NYPD take that very, very seriously. If some individuals don't, that's a problem for us because we need people to go out there and do our jobs and do them well."

Some lawmakers and experts say the decades-old theory no longer applies to a city with far less crime, unnecessarily puts nonviolent people at risk and fuels tensions in the city's minority communities.

"Serious crime has decreased dramatically in New York City in the two decades that broken windows policing has been in force, yet the causal connection between that drop and huge numbers of arrests for minor transgressions is unproven to this day," Steve Zeidman, a law professor at City University of New York, wrote in a recent op-ed piece.

Bratton has insisted that the NYPD will stick with the tactic. He also has defended the powwow with Sharpton.

"Whether you like Al Sharpton or not, he clearly is a spokesperson, particularly for African-Americans, and that is reality," Bratton sai

NYPD Targeting A Witness To Eric Garner’s Death and His Family?

The NYPD blaming everyone else but police officer Daniel Pantaleo who put the chokehold on an unarmed man. Placing blame and accusing others for calling you out on your practices is just ludicrous, and is not gonna fix the problem within the Police department.

Citizens are tired of the bad police officers taking advantage of their power.  You're there to make sure that we're safe, and protected.  Not kill or belittle citizens, because you can.

To arrest a man for selling cigarettes is just crazy in itself.  When we have DRUGS, PROSTITUTION, PIMPS, ROBBERY S and many other crimes being commited.  You should be teaching your officers to use their time wisely. 

NOW TARGETING THE WITNESS AND HIS FAMILY IS JUST UNACCEPTABLE AND WILL NOT HEAL THE COMMUNITIES TRUST IN THE NYPD!  WAKE UP THIS IS A NEW DAY! CAMERAS ROLLING WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT.  IF YOU FOLLOW RULES AND REGULATIONS YOU WOULD NOT BE EXPLAINING AND BLAMING TODAY.

The wife of Ramsey Orta, the man who filmed Eric Garner’s fatal encounter with NYPD has been arrested. This comes just a few days after her husband was arrested in an unrelated incident for which she insists he was “set up.” The Staten Island Advance reports:  

Chrissie Ortiz, 30, the wife of the man who videotaped police performing what appeared to be a fatal chokehold on Eric Garner, was arrested on assault charges, an NYPD spokesman said.

Ms. Ortiz was arrested at 5:30 p.m.  on Tuesday in front of 206 Bay St. in a dispute with a female, the spokesman said.

Man Who Filmed Eric Garner Video Arrested on Weapons Charge

She was arrested a short distance from 202 Bay St. where police attempted to take Garner, 43, of Port Richmond, into custody by using what appeared to be a banned chokehold that precipitated his death July 17.

Ms. Ortiz is accused of assaulting another woman. She was taken to the 120th Precinct and has been released on a desk appearance ticket, the spokesman said.

Ms. Ortiz faces a misdemeanor assault charge.

Just Monday, News One reported that Ramsey Orta, the 22-year-old friend of Eric Garner who filmed his fatal run in with police, was arrested on gun charges. His wife insisted that he was framed by police for his involvement with the Garner case. Watch what she had to say on a local news station.

Eric Garner’s death ruled a homicide after NYPD officer put him in chokehold: medical examiner

The 43-year-old dad died July 17 after cops on Staten Island attempted to arrest him for selling untaxed cigarettes. 'Thank God the truth is finally out,' the man's widow said Friday after the report was unveiled.

My question is, why are police above the LAW?
The death of a Staten Island man who collapsed after being placed in an illegal chokehold by a police officer has been ruled a homicide.

Eric Garner died from compression of the neck and chest while being physically restrained by police officers, the New York City Medical Examiner said Friday.

Garner’s asthma, obesity and high blood pressure were contributing factors in his death, the autopsy determined.

It was the latest development in a case that sparked national outrage after The Daily News obtained video showing Officer Daniel Pantaleo putting Garner in the chokehold.

Garner’s widow said she was relieved that the ME confirmed what had been suspected for weeks.

“Thank God the truth is finally out,” Esaw Garner told The Daily News. “Thank God for that.”

In a terse statement, the Staten Island District Attorney’s office said it had been in touch with the ME.

“We await the issuance of the official death certificate and the autopsy report,” it said. “The investigation into Mr. Garner's death continues."

Garner, 43, died July 17 while being busted for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes.

“I can’t breathe,” Garner said repeatedly as he was taken down by the cops.

Pantaleo has since been reassigned. He could not be reached for comment.

The NYPD banned chokeholds in 1994 after a Bronx man named Anthony Baez was killed by an officer who placed him in one.

In the wake of Garner’s death, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton ordered that the NYPD’s 35,000 officers be retrained in the proper use of force when subduing a suspect.

Garner was black. Pantaleo is white. And the incident has roiled relations between the police and minority residents on Staten Island.

NYPD Cop Daniel Pantaleo Who Put Suspect in Chokehold Has History of Complaints: 1 lawsuit settled out of court and 1 pending

Daniel Pantaleo, the NYPD officer who used a chokehold on Staten Island resident Eric Garner shortly before his death, has been sued twice within the past two years for alleged civil rights violations, according to SILive.com.

In the first suit, two men—Darren Collins and Tommy Rice—claimed that Pantaleo and other officers stopped and strip-searched them in a broad daylight while they were driving on a Staten Island street. The officers allegedly handcuffed Collins and Rice before pulling down their pants and underwear and searching their genital areas, according to the 2013 lawsuit. The suit was settled out of court with Collins and Rice each receiving $15,000 settlements from the city, their lawyer says.

The second case against Pantaleo, filed by Rylawn Walker in February this year, charges him and another officer with “falsely” arresting and imprisoning Walker. That lawsuit is still pending.

Like Garner, all three men mentioned in the lawsuits are people of color. Following Garner’s death and the release of video showing Pantaleo using the banned move on him, the officer has been stripped of his gun and badge.