Staten Island Hospital To Pay Eric Garner's Family $1M In Settlement
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A Staten Island hospital has agreed to pay $1 million to the family of Eric Garner, a black man who died after being placed in a chokehold by a white police officer, according to court records obtained by the Associated Press.
The settlement was confidential, but the amount of the payment was disclosed in court documents filed in Surrogate's Court on Staten Island.
Garner, a 43-year-old father of six from Staten Island, died in July 2014 after police NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo attempted to arrest him for allegedly selling loose, untaxed cigarettes in the Tompkinsville neighborhood of Staten Island.
In cellphone video of the incident, Pantaleo is seen placing his arm around Garner's neck in an apparent chokehold and then taking him to the ground after Garner refuses to be handcuffed.
Garner is heard saying repeatedly, "I can't breathe!" He died a short time later.
The city medical examiner found the apparent police chokehold contributed to Garner's death, but a grand jury declined to indict the officer.
Richmond University Medical Center dispatched the paramedics to the scene of the botched arrest. The emergency technicians who responded were suspended without pay but have since been reinstated.
The hospital had no comment on the settlement.
The agreement wasn't part of a $5.9 million settlement announced by the city in July with Garner's family over his death.
Earlier this month, a federal grand jury in Brooklyn began hearing evidence in the police chokehold death of Eric Garner to determine if his civil rights were violated.
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