US policeman fired over choking death of black man

NEW YORK, United States—A US police officer was sacked Monday for putting a black man in a banned chokehold just before he died 5 years ago in a case that fueled nationwide protests.

New York Police Commissioner James O'Neill fired Daniel Pantaleo with immediate effect over the death of 43-year-old Eric Garner during an arrest in July 2014.

The incident sparked "Black Lives Matter" protests calling for police to be held accountable for the deaths of unarmed African-Americans in custody or facing arrest. 

Garner's last words—"I can't breathe," which he repeated 11 times to Pantaleo—became a rallying cry for the demonstrators.

O'Neill's decision to dismiss Pantaleo came after NYPD Deputy Commissioner and departmental administrative judge Rosemarie Maldonado recommended earlier this month that he be fired.

"It is clear that Daniel Pantaleo can no longer serve as a New York City police officer," O'Neill said, adding that it had been a "difficult decision."

He said police officers had one of the hardest jobs in the world and that some would be "angry" with him, but he was absolutely sure he had made the right call.

"Make no mistake about it, this was a tragedy for the Garner family. I fully understand that. Mr Garner was somebody's son, somebody's dad. Everybody in the NYPD understands that," he told reporters.

Pantaleo was suspended pending the decision by O'Neill, who had the final say on the officer's future.

Four officers attempted to arrest Garner, 43, on suspicion of illegally selling cigarettes on a sidewalk in Staten Island on July 17, 2014.

In a video recorded by a bystander that went viral, Pantaleo can be seen putting his arm tightly around Garner's neck and driving the much larger suspect into the pavement before releasing him.

'SEMBLANCE OF JUSTICE'

Meanwhile, another officer pressed Garner's head to the pavement.

Garner, who resisted arrest but was unarmed, appeared to lose consciousness, and the father-of-6 was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

A New York state grand jury decided in December 2014 that there was insufficient evidence to support homicide charges against Pantaleo, amid claims that Garner suffered from a heart condition and asthma that could have caused his death.

The victim's family appealed to the US Department of Justice to consider whether federal criminal or civil rights charges could be brought against one or more of the officers in the case.

Last month the Justice Department determined that Pantaleo would not face federal charges, a decision that Garner's family slammed as an "insult."

"I thank Commissioner O'Neill for doing the right thing. You finally made the decision that should have been made 5 years ago," Garner's daughter Emerald Garner said Monday.

African-American rights leader Al Sharpton said he and the family were "relieved but not celebratory," adding that they would continue to fight for criminal charges.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, a candidate for the 2020 Democratic nomination, said justice "had been done." 

But police union leader Patrick Lynch accused O'Neill of choosing "politics and his own self-interest ahead of the police officers he claims to lead."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Suspect shot dead after car chase from White House to Capitol

WASHINGTON - US police shot a female motorist dead on Thursday after she led them on a wild high-speed chase from the White House through downtown Washington to the Capitol building.

Lawmakers and tourists scattered and ducked for cover as shots rang out during a police operation to halt the woman, who was driving with a one-year-old child in her black Infiniti luxury sedan.

Washington police chief Cathy Lanier told reporters that the suspect had been pronounced dead, but refused to discuss her identity or her possible motive while the investigation was continuing.

"The child is approximately a year old, and is in good condition, and in protective custody," Lanier said, adding that officers had fired shots at two locations as they tried to halt the vehicle.

"I will say that both at the White House and at the Capitol, the security perimeter worked," she said, adding that a Capitol Police officer and a Secret Service agent had been injured.

"They did exactly what they were supposed to do. They stopped a suspect from breaching the security perimeter in a vehicle at both locations," she said.

Officials said that the chase had begun at the "outer perimeter" of White House security, where the suspect's car had struck a barrier and a uniformed Secret Service officer.

No shots were fired at the White House, but agents gave chase. As the car closed in on the Capitol, the seat of Congress, it was cornered by police cruisers and armed officers on foot.

Footage aired by broadcasters showed the car executing a tight U-turn as shots rang out, and then speeding off. Shortly afterwards it hit another barrier and more shots were fired.

Lanier, while refusing to speculate on the cause of the incident, said it "does not appear in any way to be an accident. This was a lengthy pursuit."

The chief of the Capitol Police, Kim Dine, said he had no information to suggest a terrorist motive for the "isolated incident."

David Loewenberg, a 21-year-old student, said he was in his basement apartment near the Capitol when he heard "a succession of seven or eight gun shots" and rushed outside.

"I could make out a black car that had either run up on the side of the curb or crashed," he told AFP.

Loewenberg saw a police officer leaving the scene "hugging" a child in his arms. "It was a girl as far as I could tell," he said. "The child was taken away pretty quickly by the police officer."

The incident was the second major security breach in the US capital in less than three weeks. On September 16, a deranged gunman stormed the nearby Navy Yard and killed 12 people.

Thursday's scare also came three days into a US government shutdown, which has raised political tensions and caused hundreds of thousands of workers to be sent home without pay.

Senators sheltering inside the Capitol told reporters that they had heard up to six shots while police sealed off the building and emergency vehicles converged at the scene.

About half an hour after the incident began, the security lockdown at the Capitol was eased and the doors reopened.

Outside the Dirksen office building, which houses senators' offices, staff members not sent home by the shutdown could be seen taking cover behind trees and vehicles.

The White House was also briefly placed in lockdown, with Secret Service agents in tactical gear deployed around the building. The security alert was later partially lifted.

Matthew Jacobs, a 26-year-old tourist from Wellington, New Zealand, was on a bicycle near the White House when the car chase began.

He said he saw "some car try to get through a barrier. Rammed through it, bowled someone over and took off."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com