Calls For Justice In Eric Garner's Death Continue, 5 Years Later

LOWER MANHATTAN, NY — The calls for justice for Eric Garner that rang throughout New York City in 2014 continued Wednesday, exactly five years after a police officer choked him to death.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in Foley Square and marched past City Hall repeating their demand for the firing of Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who wrapped his arm around Garner's neck and helped wrangle him to the ground on July 17, 2014.

The protest captured the sustained outrage over Garner's death after federal prosecutors said Tuesday that they would not bring criminal charges against Pantaleo. An equal target of their anger were Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD, whom protesters accused of slow-walking the process to hold the cop accountable.

"No officers have been held accountable for killing Eric Garner’s family. How many ways can the mayor, the NYPD and the DOJ tell us that they don’t care about us?" Marianne, a youth leader with Make the Road New York, told the crowd.

Police-reform activists have reportedly pledged to keep up their protests in the wake of the U.S. Department of Justice's decision not to bring a civil-rights case against Pantaleo.

Protesters chanted "We are Eric" and "No justice, no peace!" as the crowd grew around the center of Foley Square, which baked in the midsummer heat. Young activists flanked Garner's mother, Gwen Carr, who has appeared at countless protests calling on city officials to fire Pantaleo and the other officers involved in her son's death.

The NYPD is close to resolving the disciplinary case that could lead to Pantaleo's firing, but de Blasio, a Democrat, has insisted he does not have the legal authority to oust the cop himself. In Carr's mind, though, she does: "Assert your power," she said.

"My son was killed five years ago today and I’m still feeling that same pain," Carr said, the crowd repeating her words in unison to amplify them.

De Blasio did not attend the rally, but earlier Wednesday he expressed indignation with how long the Justice Department took conclude its probe into Garner's death. The investigation started in December 2014 after a Staten Island grand jury declined to indict Pantaleo on state charges.

Federal officials long told the city that disciplinary proceedings against the officer could interfere with the probe, de Blasio said. U.S. Attorney Richard P. Donoghue said Pantaleo's internal trial actually offered the feds an opportunity to gather more evidence. But the mayor said the idea that the proceedings could be useful was "the literal opposite" of the department's previous guidance.

"I regret that I trusted the United States Department of Justice. I really do," de Blasio said at an unrelated news conference.

But the mayor maintained his stance that only Police Commissioner James O'Neill can fire Pantaleo. And he declined to say whether he personally thinks the cop should be fired, citing concerns about "due process."

"When you are the steward of the entire city, this is not about personal opinions, this is not about, you know, letting any situation take away what are supposed to be our path to justice," the mayor said.

To protester Sammy Lozada, the mayor's lax stance "sets the tone" for the lack of accountability for Garner's death.

"It’s not acceptable when he could condemn it much more strongly and, I think, have much more of an impact on how the NYPD has this impunity," said Lozada, a 24-year-old artist from Chinatown.

Kareem Montes of The Bronx said the outcome, or lack thereof, is especially perplexing because of the well publicized video of Garner's fatal interaction with the police. He said he remembers watching it on a train late at night in disbelief, hearing Garner's "gasping breath."

"Every time this happens is just another green light for other cops that they can act first, and act aggressively without fear of any kind of repercussion, legally or career-wise," said Montes, a 38-year-old photographer.