|
 Sergeant Kizzy Adonis was served with departmental charges on
Friday, police officials said, and placed on modified duty. Adonis
is the first officer to be formally charged with wrongdoing in
connection with Eric Garner's death.
Adonis was supervising officers at the scene and the department did
not specify the exact charges she faces.
Garner died on July 17, 2014, after Officer Daniel Pantaleo placed
his arm around Garner's neck. Police had stopped Garner on a
sidewalk in the New York City borough of Staten Island on suspicion
of selling loose cigarettes. His final words, "I can't breathe,"
were captured on video and became a rallying cry for protesters.
 The Garner case was one of several high-profile instances in which
unarmed black people died in police encounters, opening up a
national debate over race, violence and policing.
A grand jury declined to indict Pantaleo in December 2014, sparking
renewed protests throughout New York. The U.S. Justice Department is
investigating the incident as a potential civil rights violation.
The police department had put its internal review on hold at the
request of federal prosecutors. But police said the decision to
bring departmental charges against Adonis was prompted by a
disciplinary statute of limitations that applied to her case but not
Pantaleo's.
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"All further proceedings concerning the Garner inquiry will continue
to be stayed until the conclusion of the federal investigation," the
department said in a statement.
The sergeants' union did not immediately comment.
The city agreed in July 2015 to pay Garner's family $5.9 million to
settle wrongful death claims. A lawyer for the family did not
immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Laila Kearney; Writing by Joseph Ax; Editing by Bill
Trott)
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