Daniel Pantaleo, Who Fatally Choked Eric Garner, Had History Of Disciplinary Complaints: Report

Daniel Pantaleo, the NYPD officer who applied a fatal chokehold on Eric Garner leading to his death in Staten Island in 2014, had a history of disciplinary complaints but was only docked two vacation days as punishment, according to an exclusive ThinkProgress report released Tuesday.

“Someone should have taken a look at his record a long time ago…If they had done that maybe my son would still be alive,” Garner’s mother Gwen Carr said, according to New York Daily News.

ThinkProgress claimed that it received documents from an anonymous source who worked at the Civilian Complaint Review Board. The CCRB received seven complaints that included 14 allegations against Pantaleo before his fatal encounter with Garner. Four of them were substantiated by the CCRB, which also recommended disciplinary action against him.

Read: Who Is Daniel Pantaleo, Eric Garner's Killer? NYPD Officer Must Be Fired From Police Force, Twitter Users Say

“The agency had sufficient evidence of an abusive vehicle stop and search by Pantaleo in 2011, which resulted in a two-part complaint. The agency also substantiated allegations about an abusive stop and frisk in 2012, which resulted in another two-part complaint that was reported by DNAinfo in April 2016,” reads a portion of the ThinkProgress report.

“The documents also show allegations that Pantaleo refused to seek medical treatment for someone in 2009, hit someone against an inanimate object in 2011, made abusive vehicular stops and searches on two separate occasions in 2012, and used physical force during another incident in 2013,” it continued.

Although the report said that the CCRB recommended the “harshest penalties it has the authority to recommend for all four substantiated allegations, charges that aren’t criminal, but ‘launch an administrative prosecution in the NYPD Trial Room,’ and can result in suspension, lost vacation days, or termination,” the NYPD chose to punish Pantaleo with “instructions,” or additional training. The CCRB described that punishment as “the least severe discipline, often recommended for officers."

Another CCRB recommendation suggesting that Pantaleo lose a minimum of eight vacation days for an unauthorized stop and frisk was ignored. Instead he only forfeited two, according to a DNAinfo report.

The ThinkProgress report also noted that the number of complaints registered against Pantaleo were significantly higher than the average. Only 4.9 percent of cops (or around 1,750 current NYPD officers from a pool of 36,000 fellow NYPD officers) on the force have received eight or more complaints.

Eric Garner, a 43-year-old father of six, died on July 17, 2014, after Pantaleo confronted him for allegedly selling loose cigarettes outside a Tompkinsville beauty supply store. In a viral video of the incident first reported by NYDailyNews, Garner pleaded for his life saying, “I can’t breathe,” which later became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Although a medical examiner’s office ruled his death a homicide, Pantaleo continues to work with the NYPD and is currently on desk duty while awaiting an ongoing Justice Department investigation. He received a raise last year that increased his salary to $119,996, clocking a 14 percent raise since Garner's death.