BROOKLYN (CN) - The Staten Island police officer who killed Eric Garner will not face federal charges, the government announced Tuesday, one day ahead of the five-year anniversary of the shocking chokehold death.
At a courthouse press conference this morning, U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue said the probe did not collect enough admissible evidence to bring any charges against any of officers involved in the fatal arrest from July 17, 2014, where Garner's dying words, "I can't breathe," set off a rallying cry across the country. Prosecutors faced a five-year statute of limitations that expires Wednesday to bring federal civil rights charges.
Though he noted that the decision not to bring charges is usually made without comment, Donoghue conceded Tuesday that "today's announcement is long overdue."
"This should never have taken as long as it did," Donoghue told reporters, counting five attorneys general in charge of the Department of Justice over the course of its investigation.
Donoghue explained that the government need to prove four elements beyond a reasonable doubt to bring federal civil rights charges: that the officer acted under the color of law, that he used objectively unreasonable force, that the officer violated the law willfully, and that the wrongful conduct caused bodily injuries to the victim.
"The reasonableness of a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene rather than with 20/20 vision or hindsight,” Donoghue said.
Donoghue noted that the video footage of the Staten Island arrest showed officer Daniel Pantaleo using a hold called an “arm bar" to take down Garner. He blamed the deterioration of the altercation on a disparity of size and weight: at the time of his death, Garner, 43, weighed nearly 400 pounds and was more than 6 feet tall.
Although the New York City medical examiner ruled Garner's death a homicide, a Staten Island grand jury declined to indict Pantaleo on criminal charges, triggering massive protests over the trend of police officers facing scant consequences for causing the deaths of unarmed suspects.
When Garner was killed on July 17, 2014, police had been trying to arrest him for selling loose cigarettes outside the Staten Island ferry. A bystander’s video of the altercation went viral with the footage showing the 43-year-old Garner gasping "I can't breathe" 11 times after Pantaleo tackled him onto the pavement and kept him subdued with an arm around his windpipe.
The New York City Police Department prohibits officers from using chokeholds, but Donoghue emphasized to reporters Tuesday neither Pantaleo nor any other NYPD officer applied such a maneuver on Garner after he began to repeat "I can't breathe" 11 times.
Mayor Bill de Blasio released a statement criticizing the government's inaction.
"Years ago, we put our faith in the federal government to act," said de Blasio, who is vying for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. "We won’t make that mistake again."