On Monday, Eric Garner‘s grieving mother called on officials at the local level to move forward on punishment for the officer who killed her son rather than waiting for a stalled White House and Department of Justice on this issue.
Gwen Carr said that she was heartened to see that the Civilian Complaint Review Board recently recommended that Officer Daniel Pantaleo be hit with the most severe department charges, but she said that the decision had no weight unless the NYPD and Mayor Bill de Blasio acted on that recommendation rather than waiting for the federal investigation to be completed.
–DOJ contacts Eric Garner family over possible civil rights case against officer–
“I thought I would have gotten justice a long time ago. But as of now, they’re still stringing us along. So that’s why we are asking, we are begging, the mayor to please go forward with this, and the police department,” she said.
“I feel no matter who the President is or who the attorney general is, we still live in America, and we still should get justice,” she added.
What’s more, Carr said that she was outraged that Pantaleo was continuing to work a lucrative desk job while the department and the city dragged out the investigation.
“He’s getting rewarded for killing my son is what I feel,” she said.
Pantaleo’s lawyer responded on Monday saying that they were waiting for a decision at the federal level on the civil rights investigation.
“CCRB has no authority to mandate a trial. That decision is within the purview of NYPD, which has already indicated they are not proceeding at this time,” lawyer Stuart London said. “Again, CCRB is attempting to place politics above the rule of law.”