"I don't feel that there's a law that's necessary to deal with that issue," NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said about police chokeholds last September. "I think there are more than sufficient protocols in place to address a problem."

As the police officer who choked Eric Garner to death is set free, you may be wondering: aren't police chokeholds illegal? They are not. They are only against NYPD policy. That is not by mistake. After Garner's death, members of the New York City Council proposed (and are still proposing) a law against police chokeholds. Commissioner Bratton told the commissioners at the time that he would not support such a law, "insisting that a departmental prohibition is enough."

He was wrong about that.

The medical examiner ruled Eric Garner's death a homicide.

Time to pass that law.

[Photo: AP]