The NYPD cop whose chokehold contributed to the death of a Staten Island man during an arrest caught on video did not commit a crime, a grand jury decided on Wednesday.
The surprise finding touched off waves of fury from New York to Washington, where President Obama vowed to increase accountability "between our communities and our law enforcement."
Staten Island DA Dan Donovan confirmed the panel had voted "no true bill" after nine weeks of reviewing evidence and hearing testimony on Officer Daniel Pantaleo's run-in with Eric Garner.
The decision set off a flurry of developments:
- The NYPD ordered thousands of cops to remain on duty to handle protests. Demonstrators made a failed bid to disrupt the annual Christmas-tree lighting in Rockefeller Center.
They then marched through the city for hours, causing a traffic nightmare by shutting down the West Side Highway, Lincoln Tunnel and Brooklyn Bridge. There were at least 78 arrests by Thursday morning. - US Attorney General Eric Holder announced a federal civil-rights investigation following separate phone calls with Mayor de Blasio and Garner's widow.
- De Blasio rushed to Staten Island, where he met with clergy members and political leaders. He called the case "profoundly personal for me," telling reporters how he and First Lady Chirlane McCray have had to warn their mixed-race teenage son, Dante, "about the dangers he might face" from city cops.
Eric Garner and his wife, Esaw Snipes
- Garner's family blasted the grand-jury ruling, with widow Esaw Snipes saying his death was "like a modern-day lynching." His stepfather, Benjamin Carr, urged protesters not to get violent, saying, "I don't want it, and Eric wouldn't want it."
- The city's police unions hailed the decision, with PBA President Pat Lynch saying it was obvious Pantaleo only wanted to "take Mr. Garner into custody as instructed and that he used the take-down technique that he learned in the academy when Mr. Garner refused."
- Public Advocate Letitia James called on Gov. Cuomo and state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to create a special prosecutor to handle all cases involving alleged police misconduct. The grand jury's decision came little more than a week after riots broke out in Ferguson, Mo., when a St. Louis County grand jury cleared white cop Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of unarmed black teen Michael Brown there.
Garner, a 43-year-old father of six, died July 17 while being arrested for allegedly selling illegal loose cigarettes outside a beauty-supply store on Bay Street.
The Medical Examiner's Office ruled his death a homicide caused by "compression of neck [chokehold], compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police."
Rev. Al Sharpton and Esaw Snipes, Garner's widow, speak during a press conference following the decision to not charge an NYPD officer in Garner's death.Photo: Getty Images
It also cited Garner's obesity, asthma and hypertensive cardiovascular disease as contributing factors.
Pantaleo's lawyer, Stuart London, said the cop told the grand jury that he heard Garner repeatedly say, "I can't breathe" and tried to let go as quickly as he could, The New York Times reported. London also said Pantaleo took the fact that Garner was talking as indication he could breathe.
Obama said Wednesday that cops can only do their "incredibly difficult job . . . if everybody has confidence in the system."
"And right now, unfortunately, we are seeing too many instances where people just do not have confidence that folks are being treated fairly," he added.
The grand jurors deliberated for about 2¹/₂ hours, during which time they also ate lunch, before deciding the case at around 1:30 p.m., a court source said.
"There was no arguing or fighting," the source added.
Another source familiar with the case said about half the grand jurors were white, while the others were black or Hispanic.
It was unclear what charges prosecutors asked the grand jury to consider filing or how the vote went. Under state law, an indictment must be agreed upon by at least 12 grand jurors.
Donovan said New York law barred him from disclosing any details of what took place during the grand jury's closed-door proceedings, but he noted that all 23 members had attended every session since Sept. 29.
Eric Garner, right, is seen with his children during a family outing in this undated photo.Photo: AP
Donovan also said he had applied for court permission to "publicly release specific information in connection with this grand-jury investigation."
The decision angered Ramsey Orta, the bystander who took the smartphone video of Garner being pulled to the sidewalk by Pantaleo and yelling, "I can't breathe" as other cops held him down.
"I knew this would happen," Orta said. "I'm mad, but there's not much you can do about it."
Virtually every elected official who made statements in the wake of the ruling condemned it, with Assemblyman Karim Camara (D-Brooklyn) calling it "an outrage" and "a disgrace."
But embattled US Rep. Michael Grimm (R-Staten Island), who's awaiting a federal fraud trial, called the grand jury's action "fair and reasoned."
"There's no question that this grand jury had an immensely difficult task before them, but I have full faith that their judgment was fair and reasoned, and I applaud DA Donovan for overseeing this case with the utmost integrity," Grimm said.
Additional reporting by Josh Saul, Eric Calabrese, Tara Palmeri, Daniel Prendergast, Sophia Rosenbaum and Marisa Schultz
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