Eric Garner remembered on the 10th anniversary of his death by chokehold

NEW YORK – Wednesday marks the tenth anniversary of the death of Eric Garner at the hands of New York police officers, which made “I can’t breathe” a battle cry.

A bystander’s video captured Garner gasping the phrase as police put him in a chokehold, sparking Black Lives Matter protests in New York and across the country. More demonstrations followed weeks later when Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man, was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, on August 9, 2014.

Six years later, George Floyd was recorded uttering the exact same words and begging for air while a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck, sparking a new wave of mass protests.

Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, planned to lead a march in honor of her son on Wednesday morning in Staten Island, the borough where Garner died after being restrained by police officer Daniel Pantaleo. Carr told NY1 television station she is still trying to get her son’s name out there and fight for justice.

Garner died on July 17, 2014, after a confrontation with Pantaleo and other officers who suspected him of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes on the street.

The video showed Pantaleo, who is white, putting his arm around Garner, who is black, as they struggled and fell to the sidewalk. “I can’t breathe,” Garner gasped repeatedly before losing consciousness. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

New York authorities concluded that Pantaleo had used a chokehold, which was banned by the New York City Police Department in the 1990s, and the city’s medical examiner’s office ruled Garner’s death a homicide. But neither state nor federal prosecutors filed charges against Pantaleo or any of the other officers present.

“Even if we could prove that Officer Pantaleo’s restraint of Mr. Garner constituted unreasonable force, we would still have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Officer Pantaleo willfully violated the law,” said Richard Donoghue, then-US attorney in Brooklyn, when he announced in 2019 that no federal civil rights charges would be filed.

Pantaleo was dismissed in 2019 following police disciplinary proceedings.

Garner’s family settled a lawsuit against the City of New York for $5.9 million, but continued to seek justice in the form of a judicial investigation into Garner’s death in 2021.

The trial, held virtually because of the pandemic, was held under a provision of the city charter that allows citizens to petition the court for a public inquiry “into any alleged breach or neglect of duty relating to the property, government or affairs of the city.” The purpose of the inquiry was to prepare a report on the case, not to find anyone guilty or innocent.

One of the lawyers representing Garner’s family was civil rights attorney Alvin Bragg, who was then running for Manhattan District Attorney and won in November of that year.

Bragg, who successfully prosecuted former President Donald Trump this year for making hush money payments to a porn star, praised Carr and other members of Garner’s family on Tuesday.

“While I continue to be deeply pained by the loss of Eric Garner, I am in awe of the strength of his family and moved by their commitment to using his legacy as a force for change,” Bragg said. “Their courage continues to inspire me as District Attorney, and I vow to always honor Mr. Garner’s memory by working toward a safer, fairer, and more equitable city.”

Mayor Eric Adams, a former police officer, said during a news conference Tuesday that he remembers Garner’s death “like it was yesterday.”

Adams, who was Brooklyn borough president at the time of Garner’s death, said he prays there will never be another “Eric Garner situation.”