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Feds eyeing indictment in Eric Garner case: report

by Mike Lillis - 01/18/17 5:41 PM ET

The Obama administration is reportedly seeking an indictment for the police officer whose chokehold arrest led to the death of an unarmed New York man in 2014.

Federal prosecutors are presenting evidence to a federal grand jury in Brooklyn in the hopes of bringing charges against officer Daniel Pantaleo over the death of Eric Garner, the New York Post reported Wednesday.

Prosecutors want to win the indictment in the short window remaining before President-elect Donald Trump enters the White House, fearing the incoming administration might drop the case.

{mosads}Those concerns are shared by a number of New York Democrats, who wrote to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch last week to press for quick prosecutorial action.

The lawmakers, led by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), say Garner’s civil rights were violated when Pantaleo applied a chokehold — one prohibited by the New York Police Department — during the encounter.

“When a police officer crosses the line and violates the civil rights of a citizen, particularly one who is unarmed, there must be accountability in the criminal justice system,” the Democrats wrote.

Garner, a black father of six, was suspected of selling untaxed cigarettes. The rough arrest by Pantaleo, who is white, was recorded by a bystander. Garner’s last words, “I can’t breathe,” went viral online amid rallies around the country protesting police brutality.

The Justice Department had opened a civil rights investigation in late 2014, after a New York grand jury declined to bring criminal charges against Pantaleo.

The case is hardly new to Lynch, who served as the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn before coming to Washington — a position that put her in charge of the early stages of the Garner investigation.

The Justice Department declined to comment on Wednesday.

Updated: 6:38 p.m.

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