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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

NYC Settles With Eric Garner’s Family for $5.9M

(CN) - New York City has settled claims brought by the family of Eric Garner - the unarmed black man killed by an NYPD officer's chokehold - for $5.9 million, the city's comptroller said Monday.

Comptroller Scott Stringer said the pre-litigation settlement with Garner's estate "acknowledges the tragic nature of Mr. Garner's death while balancing my office's fiscal responsibility to the city."

Details of the settlement were not made public, and New York City has not admitted liability for Garner's death.

Garner, 43, died nearly a year ago after he was wrestled to the ground by police officers arresting him for selling untaxed cigarettes in the shadow of the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.

The New York City medical examiner concluded that Garner died from a chokehold and the compression of his chest, and ruled the cause of death a homicide. Garner's family sued the Big Apple this past October.

This past December, a grand jury voted not to indict the NYPD officer involved on criminal charges, sparking days of public protest throughout the nation.

New York City law gives the comptroller the authority to settle any claim against the city.

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