NEW YORK — Two years after the chokehold death of Eric Garner made “I can’t breathe” a rallying cry for protests over police killings of black men, federal authorities are still grappling with whether to prosecute the white officer seen
NEW YORK — Two years after the chokehold death of Eric Garner made “I can’t breathe” a rallying cry for protests over police killings of black men, federal authorities are still grappling with whether to prosecute the white officer seen on a widely watched video wrapping his arm around Garner’s neck.
The legal limbo is playing out on the watch of Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who has come under persistent pressure in the city and elsewhere to bring Officer Daniel Pantaleo to justice. The New York City case turned out to be a forerunner to a series of videotaped police killings across the country that have fueled outrage and protests.
Before becoming attorney general, Lynch ran the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, which initiated the review of Garner’s case after a state grand jury refused to indict Pantaleo in 2014, and she personally met with Garner’s family in that role. Questioned by Congress this week, she said the Garner investigation remains open but gave no indication of how or when a decision will be made.
Last year, the city agreed to pay $5.9 million to settle the family’s wrongful death claim, but the push for a federal case has persisted. Garner’s siblings performed on a rap song called “I Can’t Breathe” that was released to mark the second anniversary of his July 17, 2014, death, and his mother, Gwen Carr, has proposed converting a small park across the street from where he died into a playground named after him.
“What’s in my heart is to keep my son’s name alive,” Carr said. “This is my work for the rest of my life.”
A resolution has been hampered by a behind-the-scenes disagreement over the direction of the federal investigation of the Garner’s death in Staten Island, according to two people with inside knowledge. On one side are prosecutors in Lynch’s former office in Brooklyn, who aren’t sure there’s enough evidence to charge Pantaelo at the federal level. On the other side are their counterparts in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in Washington, who feel more confident in forging ahead.
Both people spoke on condition of anonymity.
Officials at the Justice Department declined to comment for this article.
Internal Justice Department disputes about the strength of such cases happen “more often than you think,” said David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor in Miami who specialized in civil rights matters.
The nearly 100 U.S. attorneys’ offices in the country are mostly given great autonomy, but Washington attorneys don’t hesitate to get deeply involved when a matter falls within the jurisdiction of their specialized divisions like civil rights, Weinstein said. The two sides usually work out differences on their own, but if not, Justice Department leadership can often get its way because “whether they like it or not … all U.S. attorneys answer to the attorney general,” he said.
