The NYPD cop who took down Eric Garner seconds before he died told Internal Affairs investigators that he did not use a chokehold on the victim, his lawyer said on Wednesday.
“He reiterated that he used a takedown maneuver, that he did not utilize a chokehold. And any contact his arm had with the neck was incidental. He never intended to harm Mr. Garner, nor did he ever apply any pressure to his neck area,” attorney Stuart London told The Post about his client, Daniel Pantaleo.
“We have always maintained it was never a chokehold. It was takedown procedure he was instructed in how to perform while in the police academy.”
Pantaleo spent two hours with Internal Affairs Monday morning for an official departmental interview with a deputy inspector asking the questions and other brass in the room.
The probers showed Pantaleo the two videos that the public has already seen, one of the actual takedown, and another seven-minute video of the aftermath, where Garner lays dying and Pantaleo is seen waving to the camera.
Pantaleo explained his actions step-by-step as they went through the videos, London said.
“They played it, stopped it repeatedly. In a calm, deliberate manner, he explained what all of his actions were with tremendous specificity. He answered all of their questions,” the lawyer added.
The investigators also showed him a schematic diagram of the area so he could detail where he was, when he first encountered Garner and other specifics of the July 17 incident on Bay Street on Staten Island.
“It was a very thorough questioning process, very similar to what he went through with the grand jury. He indicated ‘My arm is around his neck at a certain point but there was no pressure being exerted on his throat area at all,’” he said.
“You have to look at the video many times to see that, while his arm is technically around Mr. Garner’s neck, if no pressure is exerted restricting his ability to breath, then it’s not a chokehold.”
He also dismissed complaints that Pantaleo showed indifference to the stricken Garner when he waved to the camera in the second video.
“That’s been misinterpreted. He was very, very concerned about Mr. Garner’s health. He was constantly in contact with those who were with Mr. Garner with respect to how he was doing,“ London said.
“He explains that he was letting the person taking the picture know that he was on camera, and he was not concerned because he knew he had committed no misconduct. Any other interpretation would be inaccurate.”
A grand jury declined to indict Pantaleo on criminal charges, but he still faces the internal probe and an investigation by the US Justice Department.
“I think it will take [internal Affairs] at least two to three months to finish their investigation. Then the police department will decide whether to go forward [with discipline],” said London, who also predicted the feds would be hard-pressed to determine any wrongdoing on the officer’s part.
“In my opinion, there’s no willfulness on his part to violate any constitutional rights. This was a street encounter where race was not an issue,” he said.
The city’s Medical Examiner ruled Garner’s death a homicide, and said the cause was a chokehold, which had been banned by the NYPD, and that Garner’s obesity and asthma were contributing factors.