Officer in Eric Garner Death to Face Disciplinary Proceeding

The New York Police Department announced on Monday that it will allow disciplinary proceedings to go forward against a patrolman for the death of a black man during an arrest attempt, saying it’s run out of patience with federal authorities’ indecision about whether to bring a criminal case.

On the eve of the four-year anniversary of Eric Garner’s death, a pointed letter from the NYPD’s top lawyer informed the U.S. Department of Justice of an administrative case that could result in dismissal for the white officer, Daniel Pantaleo, because “there is no end in sight” to the federal probe.

Typically, the department waits for federal prosecutors to conclude civil rights violations inquiries before taking action. But other probes have taken far less time than the case of a victim whose dying words, “I can’t breathe,” became a slogan for the controversial Black Lives Matter movement.

“Based on our most recent conversations, it has become clear that a definite date by which time a final decision by the U.S. DOJ will be rendered in this matter cannot be predicted,” Lawrence Byrne, deputy commissioner for legal matters, wrote to prosecutor Paige Fitzgerald.

“The NYPD has come to the conclusion that given the extraordinary passage of time since the incident without a final decision on the U.S. DOJ’s criminal investigation, any further delay in moving ahead with our own disciplinary proceedings can no longer be justified,” Byrne added.

A police watchdog agency, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, will prosecute Panteleo under a memorandum of understanding with the NYPD, according to Byrne.

In a statement, the DOJ said it already told the Police Department in the spring it could go forward and that the move “does not have any bearing on the decision-making timeline.”

Pantaleo has been on paid desk duty. Pat Lynch, head of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, called on DOJ to close its case and said that the officer deserves due process in the disciplinary process.

The process “should not trigger a race by the NYPD to reach a pre-determined outcome in its own disciplinary processes,” Lynch said.