Eric Garner Death: AG William Barr, Department of Justice Won't Charge NYPD Officer | NBC New Y
The U.S. Department of Justice will not file charges against the NYPD officer accused of using a deadly chokehold on Eric Garner, whose final words, "I can't breathe," became a rallying cry for the national Black Lives Matter movement, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr made the final decision, a senior official said, adopting the recommendation of prosecutors in Brooklyn. Lawyers in the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, however, had a different view of the case and believed charges could have been pursued, according to two officials.
"Everyone agrees the incident should not have ended with Garner's death," the senior official said, but added that relevant law requires proof that the officer acted "willfully," which requires an analysis of the cop's state of mind.
Under Supreme Court cases, that means it has to be more than a mistake or a momentary lapse of judgment -- and after watching Garner's dying video "countless times," the senior official says, "We concluded that the evidence was not convincing that the officer acted willfully."
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