NEW YORK _ A veteran New York Police Department officer surrendered to authorities Thursday for using an illegal chokehold on a man during a caught-on-video Queens boardwalk arrest, the first cop busted under a new state law barring the potentially lethal tactic, officials said.
Officer David Afanador, suspended without pay shortly after the Sunday incident, was charged with strangulation and attempted strangulation at a Queens Criminal Court appearance. The officer, who was released without bail, faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.
"The arrest ... is the first step in getting justice," said attorney Sanford Rubenstein, who represents victim Ricky Bellevue. "The next step is for the officer to be convicted and sentenced to jail."
Rubenstein released a photo of Bellevue's head Thursday showing a wound allegedly inflicted by the officer during the Rockaway Beach confrontation that left his client unconscious.
The state's newly passed Eric Garner Anti-Chokehold Act, named for the Staten Island man killed by a police chokehold six years ago, makes use of the banned move a felony in New York.
"The ink from the pen Gov. Cuomo used to sign this legislation was barely dry before this officer used the very tactic the new law was designed to prohibit," said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz. "Police officers are entrusted to serve and protect, and the conduct alleged here cannot be tolerated."
Afanador, in a navy blue suit, appeared via video for the arraignment where prosecutors agreed to release the officer without bail. The married cop surrendered his passport and was ordered to stay away from the man involved in the incident.
Defense attorney Steven Worth noted his 39-year-old client turned himself in and intends to prove his innocence.
"He will come back to court to answer these charges," said Worth. "The defendant voluntarily surrendered ... He will fight this case vigorously."
Afanador, who joined the NYPD in 2005, was previously investigated eight times by the Civilian Complaint Review Board for 18 charges. One involved an excessive force accusation over an alleged January 2010 chokehold, a charge declared unsubstantiated by a CCRB probe.
He was also acquitted of criminal charges four years ago for an August 2014 incident where a 16-year-old suspect was allegedly beaten and pistol-whipped so severely that several of the youth's teeth were cracked.
The incident last Sunday morning around 8 a.m. on the Rockaway Beach boardwalk came after Bellevue and two other men were taunting Afanador and several other officers. The accused cop grabbed the 35-year-old Bellevue after the man pulled a can from a garbage can and approached a second officer.
"You scared?" asked Bellevue in the videotaped encounter. "You scared?"
According to Katz, Afanador then wrapped his arm about Bellevue's neck as the man was pinned to the ground _ with the suspect going limp and losing consciousness before a second cop pulled his colleague away. Afanador was suspended by the NYPD shortly after the video of the incident became public.
While police body cam footage confirmed the officers were "cursed at and badgered" by Bellevue and his friends, Afanador's reaction was over the top and illegal, according to Katz.
"Officer Afanador's alleged actions showed his intent to impede the normal breathing or circulation of Bellevue when he placed his arm around the man's neck and only relented when his fellow officer intervened," she continued. "Even under the most difficult of circumstances, this kind of action is exactly the kind of police conduct that the NYPD has banned and our State Legislature criminalized."
The state chokehold ban was enacted after the May 25 killing of George Floyd beneath the knee of a Minneapolis cop, setting off national demonstrations and demands for police reform.
