NEW YORK _ A top NYPD instructor testified Tuesday that Officer Daniel Pantaleo was never trained to use a "seat-belt hold," contradicting claims by the cop's lawyer during his departmental trial for the death of Eric Garner.
Inspector Richard Dee, the head of training at the NYPD Police Academy, said Pantaleo was repeatedly instructed not to use the chokehold that led to Garner's death as he was arrested on Staten Island on July 17, 2014.
Pantaleo's lawyer Stuart London on Monday said Pantaleo used a "seat-belt" maneuver to take Garner down that was approved by the NYPD. "He is merely trying to control (Garner), to cuff him," London said Monday. "There is no evidence he applied pressure to his neck at all."
Dee said the seat-belt technique was not taught at the academy or during the plainclothes training Pantaleo subsequently received in 2006 and 2008. The technique wasn't introduced at the academy until 2011.
"I can't find any record of him being trained in that maneuver," he said.
Dee added that the prohibition against chokeholds is highlighted repeatedly in training documents in bold and capitalized text. The ban is referenced in writing and in demonstrations.
"He looks like he's doing a chokehold," Dee said of video evidence, adding that is he was making the arrest he would have waited for backup.
Pantaleo and other officers encountered Garner after responding to a complaint about sale of unlicensed cigarettes on Bay Street in Tompkinsville. Garner argued with the cops before Pantaleo snaked his arm around Garner's head and took him down hard.
Garner repeatedly said, "I can't breathe," before falling unconscious. There were allegations that medical care was delayed while cops handcuffed him and searched his pockets.
The city Medical Examiner ruled Garner died from a combination of chest and neck compression and medical ailments.
