Seven Years After Eric Garner’s Death, Family Can Question NYC Officials

By Alyssa Wilson Published: July 19, 2021

Seven Years After Eric Garner’s Death, Family Can Question NYC Officials

FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2014, file photo, a demonstrator holds a sign bearing the likeness of Eric Garner and Michael Brown before a march to protest the death of Garner, in the Staten Island borough of New York. A wave of police killings of young black men in 2014 prompted 24 states to quickly pass some type of law enforcement reform, but many declined to address the most glaring issue: police use of force. Six years later, only about a third of states have passed laws on the question. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

By: Alyssa Wilson

The family of Eric Garner is still fighting for justice seven years after his death from being held in a chokehold by an NYPD officer.

New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo put Garner in an unauthorized chokehold. Garner’s cry of “I can’t breathe” has since become a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Carr said she continues to relive her son’s death, but she’s still fighting for him, CNN reported. “We’re still going to court about it and we’re still trying to get the officers to stand accountable— the ones who were responsible for my son’s death that day,” she said.

Pantaleo was not charged for Garner’s death. In August 2019, he was fired after he was found guilty in a police department disciplinary trial. On Thursday, an appellate court judge ruled Garner’s family can question “violations and neglect of duty” made by the NYPD and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio in connection to Garner’s death.

“We find that this is the rare case in which allegations of significant violations of duty, coupled with a serious lack of substantial investigation and public explanation, warrant a summary inquiry to bring transparency to a matter of profound public importance: the death of an unarmed civilian during the court of an arrest,” Judge Anil C. Singh wrote.

A judicial inquiry into the matter will begin on October 25 in the New York State Supreme Court. It will investigate alleged violations and neglect by de Blasio, former NYPD Commissioner James P. O’Neill and other New York officials.

A spokesperson from the New York City Law Department said, “So much information about this incident has been made publicly available and there is no evidence that the Mayor or any other senior City official neglected their duties or violated the law.”

If you or someone you know is struggling from trauma triggered by this story, resources are available here.