The agency tasked with investigating complaints against the New York City Police Department hosted a meeting on Staten Island Wednesday following the death of Eric Garner. NY1′s Amanda Farinacci filed the following report.
About 40 people turned out for the Civilian Complaint Review Board’s first nighttime public hearing in 10 years.
Many of those who filled the community room at Staten Island Borough Hall Wednesday night came to talk about Eric Garner.
“That is the only reason that you decided to bring all these complaints about chokeholds,” said activist Jose LaSalle.
Garner, a 43-year-old father of six, was killed back in July at the hands of police. Officer Daniel Pantaleo placed him in a chokehold after Garner resisted arrest for allegedly illegally selling cigarettes. The medical examiner declared Garner’s death a homicide.
The Staten Island district attorney is expected to convene a special grand jury sometime this month to decide whether charges will be brought against Pantaleo. Days after Garner’s death, the CCRB commissioned a study on illegal chokehold complaints.
“We expect it to be a very important report and a very thorough report and a very profoundly probative report based on gathering of statistics and a lot of analysis that will show a lot about patterns and incidents,” said CCRB Chairman Richard Emery.
Preliminary findings of the report include a look at whether a chokehold allegation is predictive of future misconduct. The report shows a strong correlation between chokehold complaints and precincts with a high number of excessive force complaints.
Emery said it will also be used as an audit of the the way the CCRB handles how it investigates these complaints.
“There is a significant difference in the CCRB complaint histories of officers who had chokehold allegations compared to officers who had no chokehold allegations, so that’s going to be a very serious finding,” Emery said.
The CCRB plans to hold its next public meeting next month in Brooklyn. The agency said its final chokehold report should be complete in the coming weeks.
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