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NYPD Has Come a 'Long Way' Since Eric Garner Death, De Blasio Says

By Jeff Mays | July 13, 2015 10:42pm
 Eric Garner died after an officer used a chokehold on him while trying to arrest him in Staten Island.
Eric Garner died after an officer used a chokehold on him while trying to arrest him in Staten Island.
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New York Daily News

THE BRONX — Mayor Bill de Blasio said the NYPD has come a "long way" in the year since Staten Island man Eric Garner died in a confrontation with police.

"[T]he anniversary is on my mind," de Blasio said at an unrelated press conference in The Bronx. "I think it’s on the mind of many New Yorkers, and we mourn the death of Eric Garner."

The mayor's comments came hours before Comptroller Scott Stringer reached a $5.9 million settlement of a wrongful death suit with Garner's estate.

Garner's family had filed a $75 million notice of claim against the city.

"I think we’ve come a long way, even in the last year, in terms of bringing police and community together," the mayor continued. "The whole police force is being retrained. We’re moving forward on body cameras. The number of unconstitutional and unnecessary stops obviously is greatly, greatly reduced. And yet, at the same time, we continue to drive crime down."

Garner, 43, a father and former city worker, died last year after police confronted him on July 17, 2014 for allegedly selling loose cigarettes.

A dramatic videotape of the encounter shows Garner being dragged to the ground by police before he yells "I can't breathe," numerous times.

The video showed paramedics tossing Garner on a gurney and not performing any life-saving measures. The medical examiner's office said a chokehold by police helped to cause his death.

A grand jury declined to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the case. Stringer said the settlement was in the "best interests of all parties."

Garner's death was one of several of unarmed black men at the hands of police around the country that sparked national protests and changes here in New York City.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo mentioned the Garner case last week when he appointed the attorney general as a special prosecutor to handle cases where unarmed civilians are killed by police.

De Blasio said that a plan by Bratton to create "neighborhood policing" was one of the biggest changes. The mayor recently agreed to hire 1,300 additional police officers to facilitate the program.

The initiative "is going to really open up a new era of neighborhood policing in this city that’s going to draw people closer," de Blasio said.

"I think what’s going to happen in the next few years are — community residents will get to know their officers personally, and vice versa, and it’s going to be something very different and much better than we’ve seen in the past."

But a prominent police reform group said "nothing has changed" in the year since Garner's death.

Communities United for Police Reform say officers are not held accountable for their actions and the police department has not done a good job of delineating appropraite police behavior.

"Neither training nor announcements about neighborhood policing will stop an officer who feels comfortable abusing or brutalizing a civilian from continuing to do so," said Priscilla Gonzalez of Communities United for Police Reform.

"It’s disappointing that nearly a year after Eric Garner was killed, city leaders continue to be unwilling to acknowledge the fundamental issues that led to his death and take substantive steps to address them."