Eric Garner

Eric Garner, 43, died on July 17, 2014 after NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo placed him in an apparent chokehold — a maneuver banned under NYPD policy — while arresting him on suspicion of selling untaxed loose cigarettes on a Staten Island street corner. Bystander video captured Garner repeating “I can't breathe” eleven times before he lost consciousness. The city medical examiner ruled his death a homicide, citing the chokehold as a contributing cause. A Staten Island grand jury declined to indict Pantaleo in December 2014. The Department of Justice's five-year federal civil rights investigation ended in July 2019, one day before the fifth anniversary of Garner's death, with Attorney General William Barr declining to bring charges. Pantaleo was fired from the NYPD in an internal disciplinary proceeding later that year, but no criminal charge was ever filed against him or anyone else involved in Garner's death.

Staten Island, NY · Richmond County County

• 2014: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The arrest, the chokehold captured on bystander video, and Garner's death, per the New York City medical examiner's office and contemporaneous reporting.
• The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, finding the chokehold, along with compression of his chest and prone positioning during the arrest, contributed to his death.
• A Staten Island grand jury, composed of 15 white and 8 minority jurors, declined to indict Pantaleo on any charge in December 2014.
• In July 2019, the Department of Justice concluded a five-year federal civil rights investigation and declined to bring charges, a decision made personally by Attorney General William Barr following the recommendation of Brooklyn federal prosecutors.
• An NYPD internal disciplinary trial in 2019 found Pantaleo had used a prohibited chokehold; he was fired from the department later that year — an administrative outcome, not a criminal one.
• New York City settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Garner's family for $5.9 million in 2015.

• Why the Staten Island grand jury, having seen the same video the medical examiner and NYPD's own disciplinary trial later relied on to find a chokehold occurred, concluded there was not probable cause to indict on any charge has never been made public — grand jury proceedings are sealed by law.
• The specific evidence and legal reasoning behind the DOJ's 2019 decision not to prosecute has not been fully detailed publicly.
• Why the federal investigation took five years, nearly the entire relevant statute of limitations window, has not been officially explained.

• NBC News — “NYPD officer in Eric Garner's chokehold death won't face federal charges”
• NBC New York — “Grand Jury Declines to Indict NYPD Officer in Eric Garner Chokehold Death”
• NY1 — “Deputy Inspector says chokehold was used” (2019 disciplinary trial coverage)
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs