If you were so inclined, watching the video of Eric Garner's death, there are a few flimsy defenses you could make of the killer cop. You could say the use of force was warranted, or that Garner was wrong to resist arrest. One seemingly irrefutable point, however, is that Daniel Pantaleo choked him.

Not so, says Pantaleo. According to his lawyer, at meeting with NYPD internal affairs investigators this week, the officer insisted he used not the chokehold he was clearly shown on video using, but an innocent "takedown maneuver." The New York Post reports:

"He reiterated that he used a takedown maneuver, that he did not utilize a chokehold. And any contact his arm had with the neck was incidental. He never intended to harm Mr. Garner, nor did he ever apply any pressure to his neck area," attorney Stuart London told The Post about his client, Daniel Pantaleo.

"We have always maintained it was never a chokehold. It was takedown procedure he was instructed in how to perform while in the police academy."

A Staten Island grand jury failed to indict Pantaleo this month, and investigations by internal affairs and the U.S. Department of Justice are ongoing.

[h/t Gothamist]