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© NY Daily News
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has promised an investigation into the death of Eric Garner after Garner was placed in an apparent chokehold by New York police officers.

A cellphone video that captured the incident on Thursday shows Garner, 43, being approached and questioned by two officers in Staten Island, New York. After several minutes of discussion, Garner claims the officers are harassing him and says, "I'm minding my business, officer ... please just leave me alone." Soon after, one of the officers, in an attempt to arrest Garner, appear to put him in a chokehold. In the video, the unnamed bystander filming the incident says off-camera that Garner had just broken up a fight.

Subdued by five officers holding him face down on the ground, Garner, a 350-pound man with a history of asthma, gasped, "I can't breathe, I can't breathe." Moments later, Garner went into cardiac arrest and died.


The video of the incident, posted on Thursday by the New York Daily News, has led to widespread outrage over the New York Police Department's handling of the situation. While moving his body to resist attempts by the officers to handcuff him, Garner keeps his hands above his head, and never appears to touch the officers, the video shows. Garner reportedly had a long arrest record related to selling untaxed cigarettes.

In response, de Blasio cancelled a family vacation to Italy, and released an official statement on Friday. He also held a special press conference (see video, below) that same day, along with police commissioner Bill Bratton, to address the incident and announce an investigation.

"Like so many New Yorkers, I was very trouble by the video I viewed," de Blasio said.

Calling Garner a "loving husband and caring father and grandfather," de Blasio described the incident as a "terrible tragedy that no family should have to experience."

During the press conference, Bratton emphasized that chokeholds are prohibited by the NYPD "because of the concerns of potential death arising from [the use of] them."

Following the incident, two of the police officers involved, Daniel Pantaleo and Justin Damico, have been pulled from the street, and assigned to desk duty, as the investigation moves forward.

This latest NYPD incident comes a few months after the department's attempt to use social media to engender good will with the public backfired; it resulted in Twitter users tweeting the NYPD's hashtag to highlight cases of police brutality.