MANHATTAN — The son of Eric Garner, whose death after an NYPD officer's chokehold during an arrest sparked waves of public outrage, was arrested and charged Tuesday for riding a stolen Citi Bike in the wrong direction on Eighth Avenue, law enforcement sources said.
Emery Snipes, 16, was arrested at a playground at Hudson and Gansevoort streets after the bike was reported stolen, police said.
His mother, Esaw Garner, told the New York Post her son wasn't supposed to be in the park at night and claimed he didn't know the bike was stolen.
Snipes was charged with criminal possession of stolen property, failure to comply with sign and violation of local law, according to the NYPD.
The district attorney's office declined to comment on the incident.
Snipes’ father, Eric Garner, died on July 17, 2014, in Staten Island after officers placed him in a chokehold for allegedly selling single cigarettes, also known as “loosies."
Garner’s final words that were caught on cellphone video — “I can’t breathe” — became a slogan for people across the country demonstrating against police brutality and the deaths of unarmed black men.
