Just two days after the seventh anniversary of Eric Garner’s death at the hands of NYPD officers on Staten Island, petitioners held a virtual court proceeding to push for a judicial inquiry Mayor Bill de Blasio and other top city officials over potential civil rights violations.
Garner’s dying words, “I can’t breathe,” have been heard at police brutality protests for over a half decade since he was killed on July 17, 2014, during an arrest in Staten Island after officer Daniel Pantaleo placed him in a prohibited chokehold. Pantaleo was ultimately fired by the NYPD, but cleared of criminal charges.
