The cop whose chokehold knocked out a Staten Island dad — and may have directly caused his fatal heart attack — is being targeted in online death threats and a Facebook page called “Officer Daniel Pantaleo — Wanted Dead or Alive.”
“We should find him and choke him out show that coward piece of sh-t how Big E [Eric Garner] felt when he did it to him,” reads one threat from a guy identified as Gary Firefighter Battista.
Another seething poster, identified as Maria Dubrito, wrote, “You are a killer who should be put to sleep.”
Police cars continued to sit just outside Pantaleo’s Eltingville home Monday as a work crew installed security cameras intended to dissuade or catch would-be vigilantes.
Pantaleo and fellow Officer Justin Damico were attempting to place Garner under arrest for allegedly selling a tax-free “loosie” cigarette for 50 cents Thursday before the 350-pound diabetic began to resist.
That’s when Pantaleo was caught on camera putting Garner in a chokehold — a move prohibited by the NYPD — and dragging him to the ground, causing him to lose consciousness.
Garner died on the way to the hospital after allegedly neither police nor EMTs gave him any medical assistance, instead letting him lie unresponsive on the pavement for more than five minutes.
Pantaleo’s supervisors have insisted to NYPD Internal Affairs that Garner did not appear to be suffering cardiac arrest or in any other great distress as he was being subdued, according to a law-enforcement source familiar with the IA interview.
Meanwhile, a law-enforcement source with knowledge of the case said Pantaleo could be charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
“But this would be contingent upon the [medical examiner’s] final report,” the source continued.
“That’s going to be the main factor — if the ME says that the cop’s chokehold exacerbated the man’s pre-existing health conditions,” which include obesity and asthma.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona, Lorena Mongelli and Priscilla DeGregory