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 "This was not a choke hold," Pat Lynch, president of the
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, said at a press conference,
referring to a July 17 incident in which Eric Garner, who was
accused of selling illegal cigarettes, died in a scuffle with
police.
"It was a big man who had to be brought to the ground to be placed
under arrest by shorter police officers," Lynch said.
Videos recorded on bystanders' phones showed Garner, a 43-year-old
black man who was asthmatic and diabetic, being tackled by police
outside a Staten Island beauty parlor.
Police said Garner, who weighed 350 pounds (159 kg) and was 6 feet 3
inches tall (1.9 meters), was resisting arrest for selling untaxed
cigarettes. Police said Garner had been previously arrested on
similar charges.
The New York City medical examiner ruled on Aug. 1 that the death of
Garner, the father of six, was a homicide caused by "compression of
neck (choke hold), compression of chest and prone positioning during
physical restraint by police." Contributing conditions were listed
as acute and chronic bronchial asthma, obesity and hypertensive
cardiovascular disease.
 Choke holds are prohibited by the New York City Police Department.
No police officers have been charged in Garner's death.
At the press conference, Lynch criticized the medical examiner's
report as "a political document not backed up by the ME’s scientific
report,” Lynch said.
A spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office, Julie Bolcer, said
the report was based on an "independent scientific investigation."
"We stand by our findings," Bolcer said in a statement.
Lynch said the city's police officers feel they lack the full
support of Mayor Bill de Blasio, who took office in January
promising to end more aggressive police tactics such as the
so-called "stop and frisk" program under which officers conducted
random pat-downs.
A federal judge ruled that the tactic violated the constitutional
rights of black and Latino men, who were most frequently stopped and
frisked.
“I think the mayor needs to support New York City police officers
unequivocally," Lynch said. "And unequivocally say resisting arrest
hurts everyone: police officers and citizens alike, and it will not
be tolerated."
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De Blasio said he had "immense respect for the men and women of the
NYPD" and would not "let the rhetoric of union leaders" disrupt
crime fighting.
"It’s a very tough job and they do it very, very well. This is why
crime is down over 3 percent this year," de Blasio said.
Lynch sharply criticized the inclusion of Reverend Al Sharpton, head
of the National Action Network, at a City Hall roundtable discussion
of Garner's death, during which the civil rights leader suggested
race factored into the way Garner was handled by police.
“It is outrageously insulting to all police officers to say that we
go out on our streets to choke people of color, as Al Sharpton
stated while seated at the table, right next to our mayor at City
Hall," Lynch said.
Sharpton on Tuesday renewed his call for the U.S. Justice Department
to investigate Garner's death.
"We will continue to pursue a fair federal investigation to
determine where the facts lie and to advocate for policies that do
not enforce policing differently according to zip code," Sharpton
said in a statement.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Barbara Goldberg, Jim
Loney, Toni Reinhold, and Eric Walsh)
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