Two years ago, New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo wrapped his arms around the neck of 43-year-old Eric Garner and killed him. Unfortunately—and unsurprisingly—Pantaleo escaped any criminal consequences. A grand jury declined to indict him in spite of video evidence of the incident, which shows him using a chokehold that’s actually banned by the NYPD.
It turns out that this wasn’t a fluke. Pantaleo has a penchant for breaking the rules, according to documents obtained by ThinkProgress.
Not only had Pantaleo killed a man accused of bootlegging cigarettes, but he’d used a chokehold prohibited by the NYPD to do it.
Now, documents obtained exclusively by ThinkProgress indicate that Pantaleo, who is still employed by the NPYD, had a history of breaking the rules. These records are the subject of an ongoing lawsuit, and the city refuses to release them.
Before he put Garner in the chokehold, the records show, he had seven disciplinary complaints and 14 individual allegations lodged against him. Four of those allegations were substantiated by an independent review board.
Seven complaints and 14 allegations sound like a lot to me. How was he still on the force when he killed Garner? Records show the NYPD just didn’t really care.
According to the opinion of experts interviewed by ThinkProgress and our own review of CCRB data, this, along with the sheer number of cases, indicates a chronic history of complaints against Pantaleo and would make his disciplinary history with the CCRB among the worst on the force.
The documents indicate that the CCRB pushed for the harshest penalties it has the authority to recommend for all four substantiated allegations: charges that aren’t criminal, but “launch an administrative prosecution in the NYPD Trial Room,” according to the CCRB, and can result in suspension, lost vacation days, or termination. But the NYPD, which is not required to heed the CCRB’s recommendations, imposed the weakest disciplinary actionfor the vehicular incident: “instruction,” or additional training.
It also diverged from the CCRB’s stance on the 2012 stop and frisk. While the NYPD found Pantaleo guilty of unauthorized frisking, it cleared him of making an abusive stop. Instead of eight forfeited vacation days, per the CCRB’s recommendation, Pantaleo only had to forfeit two.
So much for “protect and serve.”
This is even more evidence that Garner’s death was completely preventable. If the NYPD actually gave a shit—or if we had better procedures for holding cops accountable—we would have had one less viral Black death. Instead they chose to ignore the red flags.
Even a conservative reading of the documents indicates Pantaleo had among the worst CCRB disciplinary records on the force two years before his encounter with Garner. Yet the NYPD allowed him to stay on the streets.
When compared with publicly available data posted on the CCRB’s website, the records show that Pantaleo was subject to far more disciplinary allegations and substantiated complaints than the majority of his 36,000 fellow NYPD officers.
Pantaleo abused his power as a cop, but he got to keep his job while receiving occasional slaps on the wrist. Then he decides to break the rules so he can make selling loose cigarettes a crime on the corner punishable by death?
This man should have handed in his badge a long time ago.
For a deeper dive into the allegations, read ThinkProgress’ piece and/or read the leaked records below.
D Pantaleo Alleged CCRB File by ThinkProgress on Scribd