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Man Who Filmed Eric Garner Death Targeted for Arrest at Protest, Suit Says

By Ben Fractenberg | September 19, 2017 5:28pm
 Ramsey Orta (center) filed a lawsuit against the city alleging he was illegally arrested during a protest in 2016.
Ramsey Orta (center) filed a lawsuit against the city alleging he was illegally arrested during a protest in 2016.
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DNAinfo/Nicholas Rizzi

MIDTOWN — The man who filmed the fatal chokehold killing of Eric Garner filed a lawsuit against the city Tuesday, claiming he was illegally targeted for arrest at an anti-police brutality protest last year.

Ramsey Orta, 26, said he was taking video of NYPD officers during a Sept. 21, 2016, rally when he was cuffed for disorderly conduct and blocking traffic at 29th Street and Fifth Avenue, according to the lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.

“This arrest was part of an ongoing pattern and practice by the City of New York and the New York County District Attorney to engage in a malicious prosecution of [Orta],” the lawsuit stated.

Orta was given a summons for disorderly conduct after the protest, law enforcement officials said. The suit says the charges were dropped on Sept. 28.

Orta, who also filed a $10 million suit in July 2016 for false arrest, is currently serving four years in prison after pleading guilty to gun and drug charges. He was indicted on charges of selling heroin to an undercover officer between November 2014 and February 2015.

The Staten Island man helped bring 43-year-old Garner’s death to the national spotlight when he filmed an officer putting the father of six into a chokehold while Garner repeatedly yelled, “I can’t breathe.”

Police had confronted Garner after they said he was spotted selling untaxed cigarettes in front of a Tompkinsville Park.

A spokesman for the New York City Law Department said it would review the lawsuit.

Orta's lawyer, Andrew Plasse, wrote in an email that the lawsuit was the "last incident in his timeline for claims of false arrest against NYPD," but that they were still contemplating taking additional legal action "against other entities," including the Staten Island District Attorney's office.