Source: The Guardian
NYPD lieutenant texted ‘not a big deal’ after being told of Eric Garner’s death
Text messages to a sergeant who had been present at the scene in 2014 were disclosed at disciplinary trial for officer Daniel Pantaleo
Oliver Laughland in New York
Thu 16 May 2019 22.33 BST Last modified on Thu 16 May 2019 22.42 BST
A senior New York city police officer involved in the arrest of Eric Garner, the African American man who died after being put in a chokehold by a police officer in 2014, told a subordinate that the incident was “not a big deal” immediately after being informed Garner had gone into cardiac arrest and was probably dead, it emerged on Thursday.
The revelation was contained in a series of text messages between Lt Christopher Bannon of the NYPD, who had dispatched officers to Garner’s location, and a sergeant, Dhanan Saminath, who had been present at the scene. They were disclosed as part of a disciplinary trial for officer Daniel Pantaleo, who is accused of placing Garner in a banned chokehold during the arrest, which led to his death almost five years ago.
Lt Bannon appeared before the court in New York and was asked by prosecutors to read the exchange of July 2014 text messages between the two officers, as many members of the public in the room gasped with anger.
The texts showed that Saminath told his superior: “Danny [Pantaleo] and Justin [D’Amico, another officer involved] went to collar Eric Garner and he resisted. When they took him down Eric went into cardiac arrest. He’s unconscious. Might [be] DOA.”
After another short exchange, Bannon replied: “Not a big deal. We were effecting a lawful arrest.”
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Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/16/eric-garner-death-chokehold-nypd-lieutenant-text-not-a-big-deal
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