NYPD Gave Sergeant Rare Deal In Eric Garner Case, Union Says

NEW YORK — A sergeant who was at the scene of Eric Garner's fatal arrest admitted no wrongdoing in a rare deal with the NYPD, her labor union said, contradicting reports that she had pleaded guilty.

Sgt. Kizzy Adonis settled her disciplinary case with the police department by pleading "nolo contendere," or no contest, meaning she did not admit guilt for her role in the July 2014 encounter that led to Garner's death, Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins said Thursday.

The revelation came a day after the NYPD said Adonis's case had been settled and several news outlets reported the deal involved a guilty plea, citing police sources. The sergeant also agreed to forfeit 20 vacation days.

The sergeants union was prepared to defend Adonis at an internal trial, Mullins said, but it also did not want to subject her to a disciplinary system that he called rife with "white-shirt privilege."

"Sergeant Adonis took the honorable route and walked away from a broken system with her dignity intact," Mullins told reporters in a roughly 20-minute speech at the union's Lower Manhattan office. "She admitted no misconduct and maintains she did nothing wrong. She simply refused to play pawn to to the city’s politics any further."

Mullins called on Police Commissioner James O'Neill to resign because rank-and file cops have lost respect for him, echoing criticisms from Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch.

The sergeants union boss also called Mayor Bill de Blasio the "puppet master" of the disciplinary decisions stemming from Garner's death, which helped spark the nationwide Black Lives Matter movement.

"Mayor de Blasio, you will no longer be allowed to run this city on the backs of the working men and women of the NYPD," Mullins said.

In response to Mullins's claims, the NYPD referred to a Wednesday statement from Assistant Commissioner Devora Kaye saying only that Adonis's case was "adjudicated."

De Blasio's press secretary, Freddi Goldstein, forcefully denied that the mayor had any control over the Police Department's process.

"Like most things Ed Mullins says, there’s absolutely no truth to it," Goldstein said in an email.

Adonis and Officer Daniel Pantaleo were the only two cops to face disciplinary charges in connection with Garner's death. O'Neill fired Pantaleo Monday after an NYPD judge found he recklessly put Garner in a banned chokehold while trying to arrest him for allegedly selling loose cigarettes on Staten Island.

When he announced his decision, O'Neill indicated that the NYPD still planned to put Adonis through an internal trial like the one that led to Pantaleo's dismissal. "We’re in the process of finalizing that," he said Monday.

But the paperwork for the plea deal was being signed as the commissioner addressed reporters Monday, Mullins said. O'Neill signed off on the agreement himself Wednesday, union officials said.

No-contest pleas are "very, very rare," according to Mullins — he said he's only seen one in his 38 years of police work.

The NYPD also reportedly offered Pantaleo a deal that would have allowed him to keep is pension after leaving the police force. But O'Neill ultimately decided to fire him and strip him of his pension benefits.

Mullins accused the NYPD of hiding the truth about the response to the stretch of Bay Street where Garner was choked five years ago. He said Adonis was not the patrol supervisor that day, but went to the scene after hearing a call on the radio nearby.

She arrived seconds apart from an anti-crime sergeant who was pulling double duty as the patrol supervisor, Mullins said. Both he and Adonis acted responsibly, but the commanding officer who gave him that assignment in violation of NYPD policy was never punshed, according to Mullins.

The NYPD also never detailed how Adonis allegedly failed to supervise when she was charged with that offense, Mullins said. The Police Department has said it determined Adonis's supervision was lacking in some areas, but that she did not cause Garner to be put in a chokehold or delay medical attention from getting to him.

Adonis, who has been on the force more than 17 years, is now working in Brooklyn but plans to leave the state after hitting 20 years of service, Mullins said.

"She’s had enough," he said.