The Department of Justice is moving forward with a grand jury investigation into the death of Eric Garner after an NYPD officer put him in a fatal chokehold in 2014, the New York Post reported. The Staten Island man died after Officer Daniel Pantaleo used a move banned by the NYPDto restrain him after accusing him of selling loose cigarettes.
Two members of the NYPD testified in Brooklyn Wednesday after receiving subpoenas, and a source told the Post that the DOJ seems to be “moving toward trying to get an indictment” in Eric Garner’s case. The news comes days after leaked documents from the Civilian Compliant Review Board, an outside agency that receives and investigates complaints about NYPD officers, showed that Pantaleo had 14 prior allegations and seven complaints before the Garner incident. According to the document, four of the complaints about Pantaleo were substantiated. As a result of his violation during a 2012 frisk, the officer forfeited two vacation days.
The CCRB later confirmed that the leaked documents, which had been sent to ThinkProgress, were authentic. The leaker is an unidentified CCRB investigator, who did not work on the cases involving Pantaleo, a source told the New York Daily News. The “junior staff person” has since been forced to resign, the source added. The CCRB employee was discovered via software that tracks the opening of such investigation files, the source said.
A high-ranking police source told the Daily News that releasing an officer’s disciplinary records violates a state law put in place to keep CCRB’s findings confidential unless authorized by a judge. While an employee who breaks the law may not face criminal charges, the officer in question could sue.
As for Garner’s case, sources said that the DOJ’s questioning of witnesses is expected to continue over the next few weeks.
NYPD officer who put Eric Garner in fatal chokehold may be close to indictment: Source
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