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Eric Garner
- The NYPD filed departmental charges against officer Daniel Pantaleo, local media outlets reported Saturday.
- A case against his supervising NYPD sergeant, Sgt Kizzy Adonis, is still pending.
- The charges come four years after 43-year-old Garner's July 2014 death, which sparked protests about police treatment of black people.
The New York Police Department reportedly filed formal departmental charges against an officer who placed Staten Island man Eric Garner in a fatal chokehold.
The NYPD charged officer Daniel Pantaleo with violating department regulations, WABC reported Saturday.
A case against his supervising NYPD sergeant, Sgt Kizzy Adonis, is still pending.
The charges come four years after 43-year-old Garner's July 2014 death, which sparked protests about police treatment of black people.
Garner's dying words, "I can't breathe" - which he repeated 11 times during the arrest - became a rallying cry for the police reform movement.
Police officers had been attempting to arrest the Staten Island man on suspicion that he was illegally selling loose cigarettes.
Pantaleo is seen on video taking Garner down in a chokehold, a move that is banned under NYPD policy but one the officer's lawyer says was taught by the police department, according to the Associated Press.
A medical examiner said Garner's cause of death was a chokehold and ruled it a homicide.
Pantaleo is not currently facing criminal charges and therefore will not be arraigned following Friday's departmental charge and will not make any court appearances. The Civilian Complaint Review Board will hear and prosecute the case.
An NYPD official told CNN that disciplinary hearings for Pantaleo will likely take place in early 2019.
A New York State grand jury previously declined to indict Pantaleo, which prompted the Justice Department under the Obama administration to launch its own investigation, which is still ongoing.
The NYPD was waiting to see if the federal government would bring charges against officers before moving forward with its own.
But New York officials sent a letter to the Justice Department on Monday saying it could no longer halt internal disciplinary proceedings for the federal government.
It gave the Justice Department until August 31 to announce if it would file criminal charges before moving forward, according to NBC News.
Following a wrongful death lawsuit, the City of New York reached a $5.9 milling settlement with the Garner family in 2015.