Decision On Eric Garner's Case Coming
BERMAN: Here in New York and elsewhere, protests over Michael Brown's death often touches on another case, another unarmed black man's fatal encounter with police. Eric Gardner was stopped in Staten Island back in July. Gardner, who had asthma, died after a police officer put him in a choke hold. He can be heard on amateur video gasping and repeatedly saying, I cannot breathe. The New York grand jury's decision is expected this week on whether that officer will face criminal charges. Randi Kaye reports.</s>RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): July 17th, Eric Gardner is about to be arrested in Staten Island, New York, for illegally selling loose cigarettes, but something goes horribly wrong and it's all caught on tape by a bystander.</s>ERIC GARDNER, 43-YEAR-OLD: I'm minding my business, officer. I'm minding my business. Please, just leave me alone.</s>KAYE: That's Gardner, a black 43-year-old father of six weighing 350 pounds. Several New York City police officers are about to take him down.</s>GARDNER: Don't touch me (bleep). Don't touch me. (Bleep).</s>KAYE: Look closely, one officer, Daniel Pantaleo, who is white, has his arm around Gardner's neck. Listen to Gardner's cries. Muscle side of</s>GARDNER: I can't breathe. I can't breathe.</s>KAYE: What police may not have known was that Gardner suffered from asthma. His body appears to go limp. Gardner was later declared dead in a nearby hospital. Police say he had a heart attack and died on the way. Less than a month after his death, the New York City medical examiner made the official ruling. The cause of death, compression of neck, a chokehold. Plus compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police. His death was ruled a homicide. Complicating matters -- the M.E. also found that asthma, obesity and cardiovascular disease were contributing factors. The city erupted in protests.</s>CYNAC ST. VII, PROTESTER: We actually came out here to give support and make sure that we show the family of Eric Garner that we're out here and we feel for them.</s>KAYE: New York City's mayor called it a tragedy promising a full review. The police commissioner promised to get to the bottom of it.</s>COMMISSIONER WILLIAM BRATTON, NEW YORK CITY POLICE: Says - defined in the department's patrol guide that this would have appeared to have been a chokehold.</s>KAYE: A grand jury was convened to decide whether or not the officer should be indicted. It began hearing testimony back in September.</s>ESAW GARNER, ERIC GARNER'S WIFE: I just want them to do the right thing and give me justice for my husband.</s>KAYE: The jury is expected to announce its decision by the end of this week. Meanwhile, the community is working to prevent another Ferguson. Given the explosion of violence there, New York brass isn't taking any chances. The NYPD reportedly sent detectives to Missouri to learn more about professional agitators and about strategies to prevent the same thing from happening in New York. Staten Island's District Attorney Daniel Donovan isn't talking, but New York police are in touch with community leaders there to coordinate a response to the grand jury's decision. What they don't want is more of this.</s>CROWD: No justice!</s>CROWD: No peace!</s>CROWD: No justice!</s>CROWD: No peace!</s>KAYE: Or something worse.</s>CROWD: No justice.</s>CROWD: No peace.</s>COOPER: Randi Kaye joins me now. Randi, I want to talk about the officer, the one who had his arm around Eric Garner's neck. Has he had any kind of trouble before?</s>KAYE: We are talking, John, about Officer Daniel Pantaleo. And we don't see anything in his history that as extreme as a chokehold like we saw in this case, but we did check the court records, and within the last two years there were three cases where he was sued. Three men accusing him of unlawful racially motivated arrests. Now in one case he and some other officers were -- they took part in a humiliating -- a very humiliating strip search right on the street. They asked these two black men to take their pants down, their underwear down, they made them squat on the street, they made them cough on the street, they took him in overnight, and the charges were later dismissed. Those men actually sued the city and the city actually settled with those men earlier this year. In another case, the officer and some other officers were accused of misrepresenting the facts to help substantiate an arrest. That case was also dismissed. And it's important to remember here, that he just testified before the grand jury, Officer Pantaleo. So, did these issues come up, did these prior cases come up? Did he talk about them? Was he forthcoming about them? These are all questions that we don't know. And if he did, how did those, how might those have played with the grand jury?</s>COOPER: Again, that grand jury will issue its decision in the coming days maybe even as soon as this week. Randi Kaye, thanks so much for being with us. I appreciate it. Coming up for us, more fallout for Bill Cosby, new fallout in a big life-changing decision. Details on that when "360" continues.