NYPD cop Daniel Panatelo has been fired for causing the death of Eric Garner, Police Commissioner James O’Neill announced Monday.
“The unintended consequence of Mr. Garner’s death must have a consequence of its own,” O’Neill said.
“It is clear that Daniel Pantaleo can no longer effectively serve as a New York City police officer.”
O’Neill’s widely expected decision to fire the embattled cop endorsed the recommendation of a deputy commissioner who presided over Pantaleo’s departmental trial earlier this year.
It also came after Mayor Bill de Blasio proclaimed that Garner’s family was “going to get justice … in the next 30 days” during a Democratic presidential primary debate on July 31.
Garner’s July 17, 2014, death became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement after cellphone video captured him repeatedly yelling “I can’t breathe!” while being arrested on suspicion of illegally selling loose cigarettes on Staten Island.
O’Neill called the incident an “irreversible tragedy” and faulted both men for their actions, saying that Garner shouldn’t have resisted arrest and that Pantaleo should have “readjusted his grip” after forcing Garner to the sidewalk.
“I can tell you that had I been in Officer Pantaleo’s situation, I may have made similar mistakes. And had I made those mistakes, I would have wished I had used the arrival of back-up officers to give the situation more time to make the arrest,” he said.
“And I would have wished that I had released my grip before it became a chokehold.”