On January 31, Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch issued the following statement regarding preliminary hearings in the disciplinary case against P.O. Daniel Pantaleo.
“Today, lawyers on both sides of the disciplinary case submitted witness
lists and argued legal points for a trial that simply should not be
happening. The basic facts of this case are that the officers were sent
to arrest Mr. Garner on complaints from the community. He had been
warned to cease his illegal activities the week before and chose to
ignore the warning, so letting him go was not an option. When the police
officers attempted to handcuff Mr. Garner, he refused to comply and
pushed them away on several occasions. He resisted because he did not
want to be arrested again. The officers involved did not hit with their
fists or batons, nor did they draw their weapons to gain compliance. Mr.
Garner was taken to the ground using the minimum amount of force by
employing a maneuver taught in the police academy that has been used
countless times with no negative physical impact on the arrestees. That
maneuver has been mislabeled a ‘chokehold’ by the uninformed and by
activists. The autopsy report demonstrates that it was not a chokehold.
Unfortunately, Mr. Garner’s extremely poor health and severely
compromised cardiovascular system resulted in his tragic demise. Police
Officer Daniel Pantaleo did nothing wrong and should not be on trial for
doing his job the way he was trained to do it.”
Source: NYCPBA.org
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