Man dies after NYPD officer’s ‘choke hold’ arrest

Jewel Miller, seated left, is comforted by a friend as she and her three-month-old daughter Legacy sit next to a memorial scene for Legacy's father, Eric Garner. Picture: AP

Eric Garner, 43, died on Thursday evening outside a beauty salon in Staten Island after police apprehended him. Internal affairs investigators and prosecutors have begun enquiries. Garner, 43, had a heart attack as he struggled with officers trying to arrest him on suspicion of selling untaxed cigarettes, police said. An autopsy will take place on Friday.

Partial video of the confrontation obtained by the New York Daily News shows an officer placing what appears to be a choke hold on the 6ft 3in, 350-pound (1.9m, 159kg) Garner, who can be heard complaining repeatedly that he “can’t breathe” as at least four other officers bring him down. He then apparently loses consciousness.

The video shows the officer who apparently choked Garner using his hands to push Garner’s face into the sidewalk.

“We have a responsibility to keep every New Yorker safe, and that includes when individuals are in custody of the NYPD,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement, expressing his condolences to Garner’s family.

Ramsey Orta, 22, shot the video posted by the newspaper. He said that he was sitting with Garner and discussing weekend plans before the confrontation with police. Garner had just broken up a fight between two other men when the police approached him. Officers claimed they’d observed him selling loose cigarettes, Orta said.

“Before they even grabbed him, he told them he wasn’t feeling good and that’s why I pulled the camera out and started recording,” said Orta, adding that Garner was asthmatic. “They could’ve just hopped out on the guys who were fighting, but they didn’t bother to ask. They just jumped straight on him.”

Garner has been arrested 31 times since 1988 on charges such as drug possession, selling untaxed cigarettes and assault, police said. He was last arrested in May for selling untaxed cigarettes, court records show. Since 2009, he was arrested nine different times for selling such cigarettes, police said.

In the video, a clearly irate Garner shouts that he hasn’t done anything wrong.

“Every time you see me, you want to mess with me. I’m tired of it. It stops today,” Garner shouts. “I’m minding my business please just leave me alone.”

Patrick J. Lynch, president of the powerful Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, cautioned against drawing conclusions before the results of the official probe were released.

“Not wanting to be arrested does not grant an individual the right to resist arrest nor does it free the officers of the obligation to make the arrest,” he said.