Staten Island Man Died From Chokehold During Arrest, Autopsy Finds
The New York City medical examiner announced on Friday that a Staten Island man died from a chokehold and the compression of his chest by police officers as they arrested him last month for allegedly peddling untaxed cigarettes.
An autopsy found that the manner of death for Eric Garner, 43, was homicide, the medical examiner said in a statement. While the report found that Mr. Garner’s poor health was a contributing factor, it was not the primary cause of his death.
The statement did not include details about any injuries to Mr. Garner’s body discovered during the autopsy. And it did not provide any information about how the medical examiner’s office reached its conclusions.
The New York Police Department has banned, for more than two decades, the use of chokeholds, which it defines broadly to include any police maneuver that puts "any pressure to the throat or windpipe, which may prevent or hinder breathing or reduce intake of air."
The encounter on Staten Island prompted Police Commissioner William J. Bratton to call for a complete review of the department’s training and tactics regarding use of force. It has also presented Mayor Bill de Blasio with a difficult challenge as he tries to balance his support of the police with his campaign promises to reform what he had characterized as over-aggressive tactics.
"We all have a responsibility to work together to heal the wounds from decades of mistrust and create a culture where the Police Department and the communities they protect respect each other," Mr. de Blasio said in a statement after the autopsy results were revealed.
Patrick J. Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, which represents rank-and-file officers, said that had Mr. Garner "not resisted the lawful order of the police officers placing him under arrest, this tragedy would not have occurred."
In declaring the manner of death a homicide, the medical examiner’s office is not suggesting a crime was committed, but is stating its conclusion that Mr. Garner died at the hands of another person or persons.
But the findings about the chokehold and chest compression are a significant development in the criminal investigation into the officers’ conduct. That investigation, by the Staten Island district attorney’s office, is still in its early stages. The officer who placed Mr. Garner in the chokehold, Daniel Pantaleo, has been stripped of his gun and badge.
When a video of the July 17 encounter between Mr. Garner and the police was made public, it prompted an outcry online, rallies organized by Mr. Garner’s supporters and a discussion on police-community relations at City Hall.
Captured by a bystander on a cellphone, the video shows Mr. Garner arguing with officers, who accused him of selling cigarettes on a Staten Island street corner. Mr. Garner says they are harassing him. When one officer seeks to pull Mr. Garner’s hands behind him so they can be handcuffed, Mr. Garner pulls free. The officer then wraps his arm around Mr. Garner’s neck and drags him to the ground, continuing to hold him in what city officials later acknowledged appears to be a chokehold.
Swarmed by officers, Mr. Garner can be heard repeating, "I can’t breathe." Those words have become a rallying cry both for his family and for supporters who see his case as emblematic of more systemic problems in the Police Department and the way it deals with people in minority communities.
Mr. Garner was a large man, weighing over 300 pounds, and had other health issues, including diabetes, sleep apnea and asthma. Some of those ailments were cited in the autopsy as contributing conditions to his death.
But the medical examiner’s office was clear in the cause of his death, finding he died from "compression of neck (choke hold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police."
Michael Baden, who was the city’s chief medical examiner in 1979 and 1980 and later the chief forensic pathologist for the State Police, said the autopsy results suggested that it was the chokehold in combination with the pressure officers applied to Mr. Garner’s back that proved lethal. "Obese people especially, lying face down, prone, are unable to breathe when enough pressure is put on their back," he said. "The pressure prevents the diaphragm from going up and down, and he can’t inhale and exhale."
The episode has raised questions about the "broken windows" style of policing, where officers target quality-of-life crimes. Mr. Bratton put that strategy into effect in New York City in his first tour as commissioner in the 1990s. It was widely credited with helping reduce crime. But the question he now faces is whether it is still compatible in a city far safer than the one he first encount
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