Two New York City police officers have been placed on desk duty after a 43-year-old man died during an arrest in which video of the struggle shows an officer placing him in what the police commissioner said appeared to be a choke hold, the Daily News reports. The department prohibits the use of that hold, officials say.
Officers Daniel Pantaleo, with eight years on the force, and Justin Damico, with four years, were put on desk duty a day after the death of Eric Garner, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said, the News reports.
Garner suffered an apparent heart attack Thursday during a confrontation with police who were attempting to arrest him on suspicions of selling untaxed cigarettes outside a beauty parlor on Staten Island near the ferry terminal, authorities said, according to the Associated Press.
In a video obtained by the Daily News, two plainclothes officers can be seen confronting the 6-foot-3-inch tall, 400-pound man, who becomes outraged, denying the accusations and refusing to be handcuffed, when one of the officers places him in what appears to be the choke hold, the report says.
Later, Garner lay unconscious on the pavement, eventually going into cardiac arrest and dying, the Daily News says.
The episode has sparked outrage and protests across the city against police use of excessive force. The Rev. Al Sharpton planned two protests rallies Saturday.
Read earlier coverage at The Root.
Read more at the Daily News.