NYPD probe moving swiftly in Eric Garner chokehold case
In a conference room on Manhattan’s West Side, police investigators and the white officer accused of putting an unarmed black man in a fatal chokehold sat down for the first time to go frame by frame through the amateur video of an arrest gone wrong.
The closed-door viewing this week marked the start of the New York Police Department’s internal affairs probe to determine whether Officer Daniel Pantaleo and at least six other officers will be disciplined for their roles in Eric Garner’s July 17 arrest and death on Staten Island.
The internal inquiry was on hold pending the outcome of a grand jury investigation into whether Pantaleo should face criminal charges. Two days after the grand jury decided not to indict Pantaleo, police investigators started their work. Except for Pantaleo, any officer who testified in the grand jury was given immunity from criminal prosecution.