The man who filmed Eric Garner's final moments before he was killed by police in Staten Island in 2014 has been released from prison.

According to Rolling Stone, Ramsey Orta was freed from the Queensboro Correctional Facility on May 28 as the Department of Corrections (DOC) aims to release people incarcerated to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The 28-year-old’s prison sentence is officially over on July 11, but he will remain under court supervision until January 2022, per email confirmation from his fiancée to Rolling Stone.

5 years after NYPD suffocated Eric Garner to death on a sidewalk in Staten Island, Ramsey Orta, who filmed the incident, is the only person to face any consequences. #BlackLivesMatter via @WeCopwatch

He deserves freedom. https://t.co/IP2xJiukxv

#FreeRamseyOrta
@RamseyOrta
pic.twitter.com/3JniRn2Zs0

— #AbolishPolice & #OccupyWallStreet (@OccupyWallStNYC) August 2, 2019

Nearly 900 people have been released from DOC custody during the coronavirus pandemic, Rolling Stone reported. Due to the success of the initiative thus far, the DOC is reviewing more people who could be eligible for the program.

Eligible candidates must be within 90 days of their original release, must have not been convicted of violent felonies, must not pose a threat to the public and must have suitable housing for release, a DOC spokesperson told PIX11.

Orta was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 for drug charges and possession of a weapon. He was charged with selling heroin, marijuana and other narcotics to an undercover officer nine times, the New York Daily News reported.

Orta has been involved in a number of incidents with police since filming former New York Police Department officer Daniel Pantaleo administering the chokehold he used to kill Garner. Orta’s supporters said that he was a victim of police retaliation.

"Ramsey filmed Eric's last words, and that's how my child will hear his voice," Jewel Miller, the mother of Eric Garner's youngest child, said. "Ramsey Orta is a young boy. He's just getting into adulthood. He's just becoming a man and it's really sad."

Garner was accused of selling loose cigarettes in Staten Island in 2014, as Blavity previously reported. His last words, "I can't breathe," have become symbolic of the movement against police brutality and have reemerged in the public consciousness after George Floyd was heard saying the same statement in his final moments.

Blavity shared Erica Garner’s final essay on her fight to bring Pantaleo to justice following her father’s death. In the note, she talked about how frustrating it was to be patient for the justice she felt her family deserved.

“It's frustrating,” she wrote. “Because while we waited to hear something new, what we got was the same old 'be patient' speech and vague comments like 'we are working as hard as we can to ensure justice.'"

Erica died of a heart attack on Dec. 30, 2017. She is survived by two kids, including an infant named Eric.

Department-of-Corrections

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