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| DATE | 2020-08-11 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] Eric Garner Fiasco continues as a point of
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https://www.blackenterprise.com/police-unions-sue-new-york-city-over-anti-chokehold-bill/
blackenterprise.com
Police Unions Sue New York City Over Anti-Chokehold Bill
by
3 minutes
Derek MajorAugust 8, 2020August 10, 202013006
Almost 20 police unions have filed a lawsuit against the City of New
York Thursday, claiming elected officials have overstepped their
boundaries with the Eric Garner Anti-Chokehold Act.
According to the Daily News, the New York Police Department’s patrol
guide has prohibited the use of chokeholds since 1993. However, it
hasn’t stopped police officers from using chokeholds. The Eric Garner
Act declares the move as a Class A misdemeanor punishable by fines and
up to a year in prison.
The Police Benevolent Association is one of 18 unions named in the suit,
which challenges the enactment and enforcement of the new law. The
Sergeants Benevolent Association, the Port Authority Police Benevolent
Association, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police
Benevolent Association are also named in the suit.
In June, amid the nationwide defund the police protests and actions to
cut police budgets, PBA president Patrick Lynch called out New York
officials for the law.
The law “fails to give officers notice of the precise sort of conduct
not permitted when effecting an arrest,” Lynch said. “An ordinary police
officer will be unable to discern whether many ordinary activities taken
in the course of the apprehension and arrest of a suspect violate the
statute.”
The New York City council voted to cut $1 billion from the NYPD’s budget
and commit the funds to social services and programs including adding
internet to public housing.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has insisted the bill does not violate
officers’ rights under state law and that it will stand past this
lawsuit. De Blasio also dismissed claims that state police and other law
enforcement agencies would stop enforcing the law over fears of running
afoul of the new act.
The bill was part of a slate of police reform bills passed earlier this
summer and was signed into law last month. The bill was named after Eric
Garner, who was killed in 2015 when NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo held
him in a chokehold.
The bill was twice amended in June to establish “sitting, kneeling, or
standing on the chest or back” while arresting someone as a misdemeanor.
Garner’s death, like George Floyd‘s, led to police protests and
demonstrations against the police in New York City. Pantaleo was never
charged for Garner’s death but was fired last year by NYPD Commissioner
James O’Neill.
https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2019/08/27/eric-garners-family-files-lawsuit-seeking-judicial-inquiry-into-his-death-1154750
politico.com
Eric Garner's family files lawsuit seeking judicial inquiry into his death
By ERIN DURKIN
4-5 minutes
NYPD | Dave Hosford
The NYPD fired Pantaleo for using a chokehold, a maneuver prohibited by
NYPD rules which was found to be responsible for Garner’s 2014 death. |
Dave Hosford
The family of Eric Garner filed a lawsuit seeking to haul Mayor Bill de
Blasio and Police Commissioner James O’Neill before a judge to answer
questions about their handling of the unarmed man’s death at the hands
of police.
The family and their supporters also filed a freedom of information
request seeking the release of exhibits and transcripts from the
disciplinary trial of Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who was fired last week
for his role in Garner’s death, and a slew of other records related to
the case.
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“We cannot just stand by and let this get swept under the rug,” Garner’s
mother Gwen Carr said Tuesday outside City Hall. “This is not going away.”
The legal petition relies on a rarely-used section of the city charter,
which allows any five citizens who pay taxes in the city to request a
formal judicial inquiry into alleged violations or neglect of duty by a
public official.
If approved by a judge, de Blasio, O’Neill and other officials could be
forced to answer questions under oath on the case.
“We’re going to court to do what the city hasn’t done, and clearly won’t
do, which is to get a thorough, transparent, independent fact finding of
what happened to Ms. Carr’s son,” said Alvin Bragg, co-director of the
New York Law School Racial Justice Project and one of the attorneys on
the case.
The NYPD fired Pantaleo for using a chokehold, a maneuver prohibited by
NYPD rules which was found to be responsible for Garner’s 2014 death. A
sergeant on the scene at the time, Kizzy Adonis, was docked 20 vacation
days in a plea deal to avoid a departmental trial.
The department will not discipline any other officers over the incident,
de Blasio and O’Neill have said.
Advocates say more officers deserve to be fired, including Pantaleo’s
partner Justin Damico, who incorrectly stated in an arrest report that
no force was used in taking Garner into custody on suspicion of selling
illegal cigarettes. He also filed an inflated felony charge against
Garner for the cigarette sales.
“They lied on official reports. There was supposed to be zero tolerance
for lying on official reports. What happened to that? Why are these
officers still collecting their paycheck?” Carr said.
The complaint, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, charges that de Blasio
and O’Neill neglected their duties to conduct a thorough investigation
and impose discipline over the arrest and false statements made by
members of the NYPD.
It also names FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro, who oversaw the emergency
medical technicians accused of failing to give Garner adequate medical
help, and NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kevin Richardson.
It asks for a judicial inquiry that would include sworn testimony by
those officials, the police officers and EMTs who were on the scene and
others.
The last time a judicial inquiry was ordered was in 2016, when a judge
approved a request by then-Public Advocate Letitia James for an inquiry
into the city’s special education system.
In a sweeping freedom of information request, the family is also asking
for police logs, emails about enforcement against cigarette sales in the
Staten Island neighborhood, communications between officers after
Garner’s death, and all evidence used in the disciplinary case.
“The family and the community supporting them deserve access to every
record and every scrap of paper that has to do with Mr. Garner’s
killing,” said attorney Gideon Oliver.
“The Police Commissioner promised the people of New York a fair,
thorough, and unbiased trial process, and that is precisely what
occurred. Every FOIL requested will be evaluated on its merits, in full
accordance with the law,” said NYPD spokesperson Phil Walzak.
Freddi Goldstein, a spokesperson for the mayor, said "The police
department conducted a fair and impartial investigation into this
matter, including holding a public trial. For the first time, officers
were held accountable.”
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
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Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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