Man Who Filmed Eric Garner's Death Pleads Guilty to Drug and Gun Charges

STATEN ISLAND — The man who filmed the death of Eric Garner pleaded guilty to gun and drug charges Thursday, the Staten Island District Attorney's office said.

Ramsey Orta, 24, is expected to be sentenced to four years behind bars for the felony charges stemming from two arrests.

He brought national attention to the death of Garner, 43, by recording plain-clothes NYPD officers putting the father of six in a chokehold as he pleaded "I can't breathe."

A month after Orta took the 2014 cellphone video, he was arrested after being seen slipping a handgun into the waistband of a 17-year-old girl as they left a Staten Island hotel, police said.

Last year, Orta was arrested again with his mother and brother for selling crack, heroin, oxycodone, alprazolam and marijuana in the park across the street from where Garner died, prosecutors said.

He was hit with a 34-count indictment for selling the drugs to undercover officers in Tompkinsville Park from November 2014 until Feb 4., 2015, according to court documents.

Supporters rallied for Orta outside of his numerous court appearances and he has said he was targeted by the police for shooting the video.

"From then on I've been targeted by the NYPD," Orta told Democracy Now! in January.

"I've just been harassed, I've been almost killed in Riker’s Island."

Orta told Democracy Now! that he stopped eating while in Rikers because he feared rat poison was being put in his food.

On July 18, 2014, Garner died after being put in a fatal chokehold by NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo for allegedly selling loose cigarettes on a Tompkinsville street. 

The medical examiner ruled Garner's death a homicide but a grand jury did not indict Pantaleo for his death.

The footage of the arrest taken by Orta brought national attention to the case, sparking protests and earning Orta a New York Press Club award for the footage.

On Thursday, Orta pleaded guilty to criminal sale of a controlled substance for selling heroin and criminal possession of a weapon, a spokesman for the District Attorney said.

He's expected to be sentenced to four years in prison for the drug charge and between two to four years for the gun charge, that will run concurrently, with one-and-a-half years post release supervision, the DA's office said.

He's scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 3.

His mother, Emily Mercado, pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance on Thursday and will be sentenced to three years' probation for the charge, the DA said.