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Daniel Pantaleo, police officer from New York City, leaves his home on Monday, May 13, 2019 in Staten Island, New York State. A long-delayed disciplinary trial was started Monday for Pantaleo, accused of using a banned headscarf upon the death of Eric Garner in July 2014. (AP Photo / Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
NEW YORK – The medical examiner who performed an autopsy on Eric Garner said Wednesday that the carcass of a police officer had triggered "a succession of deadly events," but she added that even a hug at the same time was not enough. Bear could have accelerated his death given Garner's fragile health.
A haemorrhage in Garner's neck muscles was an indication that a choking had been used during the July 2014 confrontation, said Dr. Floriana Persechino during a disciplinary trial that could result in the dismissal of the agent Daniel Pantaleo.
The New York Police Department banned stranglers in the 1990s because they can be deadly.
Persechino said the video of a mobile phone taken by a viewer only confirmed his findings that Pantaleo had wrapped his arm around Garner's neck, obstructing his breathing and causing an asthma attack deadly.
Garner's calls to "I can not breathe" became a rallying cry against police brutality.
"The strangulation would have compromised the neck and the airways, making it difficult to breathe," said Persechino.
Pantaleo's lawyer, Stuart London, has focused on Garner's health during the cross-examination of Persechino. She said that a healthy person could have survived the confrontation.
Garner weighed 395 pounds at the time of death, Persechino said. Aged 43, he was suffering from asthma, diabetes and had a heart almost twice as big as a healthy person.
Nevertheless, she said, he did not seem distressed when he was watched by a security video crossing a street about an hour before Pantaleo seized him.
London, quoting an NYPD doctor, revealed that Garner was "predisposed to morbidity and mortality" and that his death had been "caused by an inflamed discussion followed by a physical struggle".
The New York City police doctor, Eli Kleinman, has not personally examined Garner's body, but has based it on the autopsy and video of the confrontation, London said. Kleinman will testify later in the trial that he concluded that Pantaleo had not used a stifle to restrain Garner, London said.
London has argued that Garner could have been saved if he agreed to be arrested after officers suspected him of selling untaxed cigarettes at a street corner in Staten Island. Before Pantaleo caught him, Garner was filmed on video arguing with the agents, protesting what he considered to be constant harassment.
But the central question in Pantaleo's trial is whether he used a forbidden strangulation, and not whether Garner was physically able to resist it. At a time when the fat and reproaches of the victim are verbatim, Garner's mother thought the attention to her health was a low blow.
"I'm being tortured again by Stu London's shenanigans," Gwen Carr said.
Carr left the courtroom before about 20 autopsy graphic photos were shown, taking into account a warning from the administrative judge who oversaw the trial.
The photos, never seen before on a public forum, showed scrapes on Garner's knees, back and buttocks, as well as bleeding in the muscles of his eyes and neck.
The NYPD disciplinary process unfolds as a trial before an administrative judge.
Normally, the purpose is to determine if an officer has broken departmental rules, but only if disciplinary charges are filed within 18 months of an incident.
As the case of Pantaleo is languishing, the Monitoring Committee for Civil Complaints about Supervision must show that its actions have reached a level of criminal conduct, even though it is not the subject of any indictment. criminal and that he is tried by a high court, and not by a criminal court.
The final decision on any punishment lies with the police commissioner. The penalties range from the loss of vacation days to dismissal.
Pantaleo, 33, denies having committed a reprehensible act. He has been in service since Garner's death.
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Follow Michael Sisak at twitter.com/mikesisak
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