NEW YORK _ A NYPD judge has recommended that Officer Daniel Pantaleo be fired for his hands-on role in the Staten Island chokehold death of Eric Garner, the Daily News has learned.
Trials Commissioner Rosemary Maldonado, who presided over Pantaleo's departmental hearing ending last month, issued her ruling Friday, according to a source involved in the case.
Pantaleo and the Civilian Complaint Review Board now have 10 business days to review her recommendation and respond to it before the file goes to Police Commissioner James O'Neill, who will make the final decision on Pantaleo's future.
If O'Neill disagrees with Maldonado's recommendation, it will almost certainly trigger harsh criticism and massive protests.
And it took more than five years for the NYPD to reach a decision on his future, leaving the Garner family in a legal limbo as they hoped for charges in Eric's death. The embattled Pantaleo never faced criminal charges in the July 17, 2014, death of Garner during a confrontation on the borough's Bay Street.
A Staten Island grand jury declined to indict Pantaleo in late 2014, and the Department of Justice announced last month that it would not charge the officer with violating Garner's civil rights. Both decisions infuriated the dead man's family and ignited protests around the city.
Garner's death, with his oft-repeated final words of "I can't breathe," spurred the Black Lives Matter movement and led the NYPD to retrain its officers in de-escalation tactics. The dying declaration was captured on smartphone video that was first reported by the Daily News and soon beamed around the world.
NYPD insiders expect O'Neill to fire Pantaleo, who has been working a desk job _ with no gun and shield _ since Garner died, his last moments captured on smartphone video that made headlines around the world.
Pantaleo told the grand jury he used a department-approved seatbelt takedown maneuever on Garner, not a department-banned chokehold.
And his lawyer, Stu London, said at Pantaleo's department that Garner's poor health played a role in the death _ the victim weighed 390 pounds and suffered from diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular problems.
But the city Medical Examiner's office said it was a chokehold and that it set in motion a "lethal cascade" of events that ended in a fatal asthma attack.
Garner was confronted by Pantaleo and Officer Justic Damico for selling loosies _ untaxed single cigarettes. He had a prior history of the quality of life offense, and was carrying untaxed cigarettes that day.
Garner insisted at the scene that cops misread the situation, and he had just broken up a fight before they arrived.
