Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he believes NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo should be fired for his role in the July 2014 death of Eric Garner, heeding the recommendation of an NYPD administrative judge.
“We have a judge who said the officer in the Eric Garner case should be fired. In our society we say we follow the judge’s orders and I think that’s appropriate,” Cuomo said during an unrelated event on Saturday, according to a transcript provided by his office. “When a judge says an officer should be fired because they did something wrong, I believe the officer should be fired.”
NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Trials🎉 Rosemarie Maldonado on Friday recommended in a 45-page draft report that Pantaleo be fired for the deadly encounter on Staten Island with Garner on July 17, 2014.
The judge fou🙈nd Pantaleo guilty of “reckless assault.” He was immediately suspended.
Last month, the Department of Justice declined to charge Pantaleo with criminal civil rights violations followi✅ng a five-year investigation.
“The community needs to be respected and that’s what the Eric Garner case is all about. It’s gone on for five years. Five years that family has been suffering. Give them the respect of doing justice,” the governor said.
But Cuomo also said people should respect the police, referring to recent incidents in which officers have been doused with water.
“The police officers should give respect, they should get respect. You don’t douse a police officer with a bucket of water. You don’t disrespect the police,” he said. “They’re putting their life on the line for all of us every day. Whether you’re an NYPD or in the Nassau police or Suffolk police you’re putting your life on the line and they should be respected and I think that is way out of the realm of acceptable behavior.”
Police Commissioner James O’Neill has final say on Pantaleo’s fate. Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he will not tell the top cop what to do.