On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner died in Staten Island, New York City, after a New York City Police Department
(NYPD) officer put him in a chokehold for about 15 to 19 seconds while
arresting him. NYPD policy prohibits the use of chokeholds. The officer
denied choking Garner, but the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office
report stated “Cause of Death: Compression of neck (choke hold),
compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by
police” and “Contributing Conditions: Acute and chronic bronchial
asthma; Obesity; Hypertensive cardiovascular disease”. In addition, the
filming of the incident brought police brutality into wider public
awareness.[1]
NYPD officers approached Garner on suspicion of selling single cigarettes from packs without tax stamps.
After Garner told the police that he was tired of being harassed and
that he was not selling cigarettes, the officers went to arrest Garner.
When officer Daniel Pantaleo tried to take Garner’s wrist behind his
back, Garner pulled his arms away. Pantaleo then put his arm around
Garner’s neck and took him down onto the ground. After Pantaleo removed
his arm from Garner’s neck, he pushed the side of Garner’s face into the
ground while four officers moved to restrain Garner, who repeated “I
can’t breathe” eleven times while lying facedown on the sidewalk. After
Garner lost consciousness, officers turned him onto his side to ease his
breathing. Garner remained lying on the sidewalk for seven minutes
while the officers waited for an ambulance to arrive. The officers and emergency medical technicians did not perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation
(CPR) on Garner at the scene; according to a spokesman for the PBA,
this was because they believed that Garner was breathing and that it
would be improper to perform CPR on someone who was still breathing. He
was pronounced dead at the hospital approximately one hour later.
