After the New York Police Department gave the U.S. Justice Department an ultimatum regarding the Eric Garner case, the NYPD has filed charges against Officer Daniel Pantaleo for Garner's 2014 death.  

The Associated Press reports Pantaleo will be tried by a watchdog group, the Civilian Complaint Review Board.

“Understandably, members of the public in general and the Garner family, in particular, have grown impatient with the fact that NYPD has not proceeded with our disciplinary proceedings, and they have difficulty comprehending a decision to defer to a federal criminal investigation that seems to have no end in sight,” Lawrence Byrne, deputy commissioner of legal matters, wrote.

Garner was killed in the summer of 2014 during a police encounter over the sale of loose cigarettes. The fatal chokehold Garner was placed in triggered Garner's asthma and led to his death.

A grand jury decided not to indict Pantaleo for the incident leading to protests and calls for his termination. He currently does administrative work, Blavity reported.   

Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association claims the NYPD's eagerness to charge Pantaleo is because the department has already made up its mind about the disgraced officer. 

Garner's tragic death led his daughter, Erica Garner, to become an activist. She died after suffering a heart attack Christmas Eve 2017.

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