New York City Settles With Family of Eric Garner for $5.9 Million
According to NBC News, the City of New York has agreed to pay $5.9 million to the family of Eric Garner, who was killed by Staten Island NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo a year ago this week.
“I believe that we have reached an agreement that acknowledges the tragic nature of Mr. Garner’s death while balancing my office’s fiscal responsibility to the City,” said City Comptroller Scott Stringer in a statement Monday evening, noting, “the City has not admitted liability.”
In October, the family filed notice of a $75 million lawsuit against the NYPD, claiming Garner’s chokehold death was the direct result of the police force’s “negligence, recklessness and carelessness.”
The death had previously been ruled a homicide by the city’s medical examiner, but Staten Island D.A. Daniel Donovan was unable to indict Garner’s killer for criminally negligent homicide or manslaughter and reportedly chose to leave out a lesser reckless endangerment charge for unexplained reasons.
Today, Donovan is a United States congressman and Pantaleo—the subject of two previous civil rights lawsuits—remains employed by the NYPD, performing crime analysis.
A Justice Department investigation into Garner’s death is ongoing.
[Image via AP Images]