Cop who killed Eric Garner being sued for car crash that resulted in 'severe' injuries
Daniel Pantaleo, the NYPD officer who put Eric Garner in a chokehold last summer, is being sued … again.
The suit, filed by Leonardo Aguirre, claims that Pantaleo was following Aguirre too closely and was speeding when the two of them got into an accident that caused Aguirre “severe and permanent” injuries on his neck, back, left shoulder and knees.
The police account of the accident differs greatly from the account in the lawsuit, with a police source saying that Pantaleo was driving a marked police car with his lights on as he was responding to an emergency call and that Pantaleo was struck by the other car.
The collision occurred last summer, just weeks before video was released of Eric Garner being put in a chokehold by police that subsequently led to his death. Pantaleo was not charged by a grand jury.
Aguirre’s lawsuit is one in a string of suits to come against Pantaleo, however. One suit, filed by Darren Collins and Tommy Rice, cost the city $30,000 after Collins and Rice complained that they were strip searched in public during a traffic stop and that Pantaleo slapped their testicles.
Another suit was filed by the Legal Aid Society during its attempts to make public Pantaleo’s growing disciplinary history.
