Daniel Pantaleo and Eric Garner
The city police officers union is demanding two law enforcement agencies probe the leak of NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo’s disciplinary records.
In a letter dated March 24, PBA President Pat Lynch called on the city Department of Investigation and Manhattan DA’s Office to “investigate this illegal action” and “bring forth promptly criminal prosecution, disciplinary action(s), and any other appropriate actions.”
“The release of a police officer’s confidential personnel records is a crime that should be thoroughly investigated and, if necessary, prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he wrote.
Pantaleo, one of the officers involved in the July 2014 choking death of Eric Garner, is the subject of a federal grand jury probe. Advocates for Garner’s family have been demanding his disciplinary records be released for months.
The city has argued that it would be illegal to release such information, even though the NYPD’s dissemination of disciplinary records was routine in the past.
Last week’s resignation of the as-yet unnamed leaker, a low-level staffer at the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, clearly has not placated Lynch, who is also demanding investigators dig into CCRB’s practices.
His letter came a day after he described the leaker’s departure as a “positive first step.”
Lynch noted in his letter that while the leaker “was given full access to CCRB’s investigation files,” he or she was not involved in any pending investigation of Pantaleo.
“We request that the DOI conduct an investigation into the security methods and processes at the CCRB,” he wrote.
According to the leaked documents, Pantaleo had seven disciplinary complaints and 14 individual allegations filed against him in his time with the NYPD.
Four of those allegations date back to incidents in 2011 and 2012 and were substantiated by the CCRB, which recommended he be disciplined, the documents revealed.
The Manhattan DA’s Office and DOI declined to comment. “Upon learning that misconduct occurred, the CCRB acted immediately,” said CCRB senior advisor Jerika Richardson. “A swift and thorough investigation resulted in the identification of the individual who leaked those confidential documents and their departure from the agency.”