Cop 'Untruthful' About Chokehold That Killed Eric Garner: Judge

NEW YORK — An NYPD judge found Officer Daniel Pantaleo's testimony about his role in Eric Garner's death "untruthful" and "disingenous" in her decision recommending his firing from the police force.

Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado ruled earlier this month that Pantaleo acted recklessly when he put Garner in the banned chokehold that led to his death on July 17, 2014, according to a copy of her decision published by The New York Times.

Maldonado slammed Pantaleo's claims that he did not put Garner in a chokehold even though he knew the NYPD's Patrol Guide prohibited such maneuvers. His "self-serving version of events" contradicted the medical and video evidence of what transpired five years ago on Staten Island, she wrote.

"(T)his tribunal finds that Respondent (Pantaleo) knew of the grave risks associated with prohibited chokeholds, and that by using one under these circumstances, he engaged in a gross deviation from the standard of conduct established for a New York City police officer," Maldonado wrote.

The Times published Maldonado's 46-page ruling as Police Commissioner James O'Neill weighs whether to fire Pantaleo as the judge recommended. He is expected to make a decision by the end of the month.

Maldonado found Pantaleo guilty of putting Garner in a chokehold but said there was not enough evidence to prove the cop intentionally blocked the 43-year-old's breathing.

Pantaleo did not testify at his disciplinary trial before Maldonado that ended in June, but NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau staffers asked him in 2014 how he defined a chokehold.

Pantaleo told them that he knew the Patrol Guide banned chokeholds, according to Maldonado's ruling. He described them as maneuvers in which "you take your two hands and you're choking their throat or if you use your forearm grasped with the other hand and you pull back with your forearm onto the windpipe preventing him from breathing."

When Pantaleo was asked whether he had put Garner in a banned chokehold, he replied, "No, I did not" — even though his own description was "completely consistent" with his actions as he tried to arrest Garner for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes, Maldonado wrote.

The judge ruled that the chokehold was also a "significant factor" in causing the asthma attack that led to Garner's demise.

"(T)here is only one appropriate penalty for the grave misconduct that yielded an equally grave result — Respondent can no longer remain a New York City police officer," she wrote.

The NYPD suspended Pantaleo on Aug. 2 after Maldonado handed down her ruling. He has avoided criminal chargesfor his role in Garner's death, which helped fuel the nationwide Black Lives Matter movement that adopted his last words: "I can't breathe."

Patrick Lynch, the president of the New York City Police Benevolent Association, slammed the judge's decision this month as "pure political insanity," saying it would "paralyze" the city's police force if O'Neill upholds it.