City appeals court’s decision to go forward with inquiry into Eric Garner’s death
/
The Appellate Division, First Department heard arguments after the City appealed a decision to begin an inquiry into the death of Eric Garner. File photo by Craig Ruttle/AP
By Jacob Kaye
On the one year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder, the family of Eric Garner appeared in New York appellate court to request an inquiry into the Staten Island man’s death move forward Tuesday.
Appearing in Appellate Division of the First Department of New York Supreme Court, Garner’s family argued that the inquiry, which is currently scheduled for July 19, continue as planned despite an appeal from the City.
If allowed to move forward, the inquiry will allow Garner’s family, represented by Alvin Bragg of the Racial Justice Project at New York Law School, to request testimony from Mayor Bill de Blasio and former NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill. The family alleges de Blasio and O’Neill neglected and violated their duties.
The inquiry was originally granted in September 2020 through a decision by the lower court. On Tuesday, the City argued that inquiry is not necessary after the case was fleshed out in the courts, the media and the public discourse in the years following Garner’s death in 2014.
“What [the inquiry] is proposing is to ask a lot of questions that will have no resolution,” said Richard Dearing of the New York City Law Department.
However, Bragg argued that much of Garner’s case has yet to come to light.
Bragg said there are plenty of questions that still need answers, citing a lack of investigation into the medical attention given, or not given, to Garner after former NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo used a banned chokehold on him, as well the actions of the other officers involved in the arrest.
“There are so many questions that should and would be asked,” Bragg said, adding that the inquiry seeks “transparency” in what was an “extraordinary case.”
Garner’s death, which was caught on camera, helped spark the national Black Lives Matter movement. His last words, “I can’t breathe,” continue as the movement’s rallying cry.
Following an investigation from the U.S. Department of Justice, a grand jury declined to bring criminal charges against Pantaleo.
Though stripped of his gun and badge following Garner’s death, Pantaleo remained on the NYPD’s payroll through 2019, before being fired by O’Neill. In a separate case Tuesday, the NYPD’s decision to fire the ex-officer was upheld in appeals court.
De Blasio was asked about how he handled Garner’s case during his media availability on Tuesday.
“I believed at the time that the right thing to do was to defer to the U.S. Department of Justice. That proved to be a mistake. I own that. I will never let that happen again on my watch. And of course, I hope we never have occasion to even have to consider it again on my watch,” de Blasio said.
“I don't understand what the federal government did there,” he added.”I don't understand the delays and the indecision. It's not acceptable to me. But we should not have tolerated it. We should have moved forward ourselves.
If the Appellate Division upholds the decision to move forward, the inquiry will begin nearly 7 years to the day after Garner’s death.
