STATEN ISLAND — Evidence about the chokehold death of Eric Garner is set to go before a Staten Island grand jury next week.
The jury will be impaneled on Monday, a law enforcement source said. Garner died while being arrested for selling untaxed cigarettes in July, the New York Daily News first reported.
The Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide due to compression of the neck from a chokehold and Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan called his investigation into it the "biggest allocation" of resources he's used since he started the job in 2004.
A spokesman for Donovan had no comment.
Video of Garner's arrest shows him being put in an apparent chokehold and wrestled to the ground. He can be heard telling police officers "I can't breathe" at least 11 times.
The officer who can be seen apparently using a chokehold, Daniel Pantaleo, was stripped of his gun and badge during the investigation.
PBA president Pat Lynch said in a statement that he expects the jury will find Pantaleo acted properly in the arrest.
"We are confident that, if the evidence is fairly presented to the grand jury, they will conclude that, while this was a sad and tragic event resulting from Mr. Garner’s resistance to arrest, the officers acted properly and within the scope of the law," he said after Donovan announced the jury.
