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The finding sets in motion the final stage of a long legal and political battle over the fate of the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, who has become for many critics of the New York Police Department an emblem of what they see as overly aggressive policing in black and Hispanic neighborhoods.
Pantaleo’s fate has been a political minefield for both Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill — who now must decide whether to fire him and incur the wrath of police unions — and Mayor Bill de Blasio, who for years has expressed solidarity with the Garner family while avoiding saying whether Pantaleo should remain on the force.
Garner’s death helped spur a wave of protests nationwide against police brutality that led to changes in policy in many cities, and his last words — “I can’t breathe” — became a battle cry for the Black Lives Matter movement.
For years, Pantaleo’s unresolved status has loomed over de Blasio’s administration, and has continued to dog him as he embarks on a run for president as a progressive Democrat.
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He was heckled at a national debate Wednesday night by protesters shouting “Fire Pantaleo,” and vowed that Garner’s family would soon receive justice.
On Friday, de Blasio said the Garner family had waited too long for justice from federal and state law enforcement authorities and said the departmental trial and the judge’s decision would bring them “a sense of closure and peace.” But he again declined to say whether he believed Pantaleo should be fired.
The Garner family called on O’Neill to dismiss the officer immediately.
But the president of the Police Benevolent Association, Patrick J. Lynch, warned that the commissioner and the mayor would “lose the department” if the decision was made to terminate Pantaleo, whom Lynch has cast as a scapegoat.
A Police Department spokesman said O’Neill had yet to receive a copy of the judge’s report and would not make a decision until later this month, after lawyers for both sides have a chance to comment on the conclusions. O’Neill did suspend Pantaleo on Friday.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.