DOJ contacts Eric Garner family over possible civil rights case against officer

According to Eric Garner's daughter, Erica, the DOJ contacted her in a possible first step toward the end of an investigation of his chokehold death.

The Justice Department has been investigating the death of Eric Garner for years, but his daughter, Erica, recently revealed that the DOJ contacted her, a possible first step toward the end of the case.

“The DOJ just reached out to me and said they want to meet to give me an update,” Erica Garner wrote on Twitter on Monday.

“Word of mouth is that they are going to have a meeting. I don’t know when or where or what it’s about,” Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, told the New York Daily News.

A federal grand jury has been investigating NYPD Officer David Pantaleo since the death of Eric Garner on July 17, 2014, after Garner was selling loose cigarettes. Pantaleo put Garner in a banned chokehold, and his final words, “I can’t breathe,” became a rallying cry for protest movements across the country. Although Garner’s death was ruled a homicide, Pantaleo was not convicted by a Staten Island grand jury.

Pantaleo’s lawyer, Stuart London, said that he was unaware of a meeting set to take place, as was a police spokesperson.

 

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