
The Justice Department is planning to conduct a federal investigation into the chokehold death of an unarmed black man after a New York City grand jury declined to indict the white police officer who performed the move, Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday.
The probe will look for a potential civil rights violation in the death of Eric Garner. Garner, 43, was confronted by police officers on July 17 on suspicion of selling loose cigarettes. A video shot by an onlooker shows a police officer getting Garner in what is alleged to be a chokehold and Garner repeatedly saying he could not breathe.
Holder said this is one of "several recent incidents that have tested the sense of trust that mus