Protesters gather outside NYPD headquarters on Thursday following a hearing for Officer Daniel Pantaleo. PHOTO: BRENDAN MCDERMID/REUTERS
The New York City police officer who placed Eric Garner in a chokehold will face a disciplinary trial in May, nearly five years after the death of the unarmed African-American man.
New York Police Department Administrative Judge Rosemarie Maldonado set May 13 as the date for the internal trial of Officer Daniel Pantaleo.
“It is well-established law we can proceed here and I think we should,” Judge Maldonado said Thursday in the courtroom inside One Police Plaza, the NYPD’s headquarters.
Officer Pantaleo’s attorney, Stuart London, argued for a delay in the trial, saying a continuing federal civil-rights probe into Mr. Garner’s death and a state lawsuit over previous testimony about the incident would disrupt the officer’s due process.
The hearing on Thursday was the first time Officer Pantaleo was forced to appear publicly in connection with Mr. Garner’s death.
On July 17, 2014, police officers tried to arrest Mr. Garner for allegedly selling loose cigarettes on Staten Island. When Mr. Garner resisted being handcuffed by plainclothes officers, Officer Pantaleo, who is white, put him in a chokehold, a move that has been banned by the NYPD since 1993.
The incident was captured on cellphone video and the last words Mr. Garner uttered before his death, “I can’t breathe,” became a repeated chant during protests in New York City and across the U.S. over police use of force.
Officer Pantaleo, who has been on desk duty since the death, faces disciplinary charges of recklessly using force by chokehold and intentional strangulation.
The disciplinary case isn’t a criminal trial—the most severe punishment Officer Pantaleo could receive is the loss of his job. A Staten Island grand jury declined to indict the officer in 2014.
Judge Maldonado will decide the case and recommend any disciplinary action to NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill. Mr. O’Neill has final say over any punishment Officer Pantaleo would receive.
On Thursday, the officer entered the packed courtroom behind multiple police-union officials, who sat in the row directly behind him.
Gwen Carr, Mr. Garner’s mother, was also in the courtroom. She criticized the NYPD for waiting more than four years before taking any action against the officer.
“I am just glad that this is moving forward,” Ms. Carr said after the hearing. “The family is in pain. It’s 4 ½ years with no justice.”
The NYPD had said it couldn’t move forward with a disciplinary trial against Officer Pantaleo because it was waiting for the Justice Department to finish a civil-rights probe into Mr. Garner’s death, even though there is no law requiring the city had to do so.
Last July, the NYPD issued an ultimatum to the Justice Department, vowing to go ahead with the internal trial if the Justice Department didn’t announce criminal charges by the end of August. Two days later, the Justice Department told the NYPD it could move forward.
Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, criticized the NYPD for waiting more than four years before taking any action against Officer Pantaleo. PHOTO: JULIO CORTEZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mr. London on Thursday asked the judge to delay the case until after the July 17, 2019, deadline for the Justice Department to bring charges against Officer Pantaleo. The federal civil-rights case has a statute of limitations of five years.
“It would give the feds an upward road map to my entire trial,” Mr. London said after the hearing.
He also cited a continuing state civil case in Staten Island brought by the Civilian Complaint Review Board, a city agency that investigates complaints against officers, as a reason for delaying the trial. The CCRB, which is also serving as the prosecution in Officer Pantaleo’s disciplinary trial, is asking a Staten Island court to release transcripts from the 2014 grand jury convened for the incident.
Mr. London disputed the charges in the case. “Is it reckless or intentional in theory?” Mr. London asked the court.
CCRB deputy chief prosecutor Suzanne O’Hare asked Judge Maldonado to schedule the trial in late January. Prosecutors have more than 27,000 documents as evidence and 13 witnesses prepared to testify. Mr. London said his team had 40,000 documents, including Mr. Garner’s medical history, “a tremendous amount of material from NYPD training” and video evidence.
Mr. London said one of his witnesses would be a medical examiner from St. Louis who will testify that evidence shows Mr. Garner didn’t die from a chokehold but from pre-existing health conditions. The attorney said Mr. Garner’s autopsy showed bones in his neck were still intact after the incident.
New York City’s medical examiner determined in 2014 that Mr. Garner died in part from a chokehold and ruled the death a homicide.
Federal civil-rights prosecutors earlier this year recommended bringing charges against the officer, but it was unclear at the time if top Justice Department officials would be willing to move ahead with a case, people familiar with the matter said at the time.
“It is true it has been more than four years,” Ms. O’Hare said. “And the family, the community at large deserves some type of resolution.”