NYPD Official Says There Was ‘No Coverup’ in Eric Garner Investigation

By Alyssa Wilson Published: October 27, 2021

NYPD Official Says There Was ‘No Coverup’ in Eric Garner Investigation

A memorial for Eric Garner rests on the pavement near the site of his death, Saturday, July 19, 2014, in the Staten Island borough of New York. The wife of a man who died after a police officer used an apparent chokehold to bring him to the ground during an arrest burst into tears Saturday at a Harlem rally in his honor. Eric was confronted by police trying to arrest him on suspicion of selling untaxed, loose cigarettes on a Staten Island sidewalk, authorities said. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

In Summary

The Deputy Commissioner of Internal Affairs for the NYPD testified there was no coverup in the investigation surrounding the officers involved in the death of Eric Garner.

A top-ranking official with the New York Police Department testified during a judicial inquiry that there was “no coverup” in an internal investigation into the officers involved in the death of Eric Garner.

PREVIOUS: Judicial Inquiry Into Eric Garner’s death Begins in New York

The inquiry focuses on Garner’s arrest, the use of force against him, the filing of documents about his arrest, alleged leaks of his arrest history, and the autopsy report information.

Deputy Commissioner of Internal Affairs Joseph Reznick said there was no coverup and, as a father of three, apologized to Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, CNN reported. “I cannot imagine how you must feel,” he said. “If I had the power to turn back the clock and go back to July 2014 and change the circumstances, I would.”

In 2014, Garner was approached by NYPD officers Daniel Pantaleo and Justin D’Amico for illegally selling cigarettes. Pantaleo placed Garner in a chokehold and pinned him to the ground before Garner passed out and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The medical examiner ruled Garner’s cause of death was homicide by suffocation. Despite this, a state grand jury did not indict Pantaleo on criminal charges. In August 2019, he was fired after he was found guilty in a police department disciplinary trial.

New York Supreme Court Judge Erika Edwards, who oversees the inquiry, said she would not make decisions about charging anyone at the end of the proceedings. The purpose of the questioning will focus on the truth. “Nobody will be charged or found liable,” she said. “It’s about transparency. It’s about creating a record. It’s about letting the public better understand what happened and what did not happen seven years ago.”