Choke Hold Officer Has Been Interviewed By NYPD
Officer Daniel Pantaleo is the subject of an internal investigation.
![Eric Garner, seen in this undated Facebook photo, died while being arrested by police in Staten Island.](https://s.abcnews.com/images/US/ht_eric_garner_facebook_wy_141203_16x9_992.jpg?w=1600)
— -- The New York City police officer who was filmed putting a man in a choke hold moments before the suspect died has been formally interviewed by NYPD internal affairs, ABC News has learned.
The question of whether to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo on criminal charges relating to Eric Garner's death was the subject of a grand jury, who decided against issuing any charges. Now the July 17 incident is the subject of investigations by both the NYPD and the U.S. Department of Justice.
NYPD investigators had to wait until after the grand jury decision was handed down last Wednesday before beginning their own inquiry on Thursday.
Pantaleo, 27, appeared before the Internal Affairs Bureau investigators on Monday, sources told ABC News.
![](https://s.abcnews.com/images/US/AP_nypd_ll_141210.jpg)
The other officers who were on the scene during the struggle with Garner were scheduled to be interviewed last Friday.
Pantaleo is currently suspended with pay, but had both his gun and badge taken away pending the outcome of the internal investigation.
His attorney, Stuart London, said today, “Daniel spent two hours with the Internal Affairs Bureau on Monday going over, in painstaking detail two videos – the video that everyone has seen and another video that centered on the aftermath when emergency services arrived. He answered each question professionally and accurately, very similar to how he testified in the grand jury.”
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton has promised an "expeditious" internal review, though no deadline has been set.
Former NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly, who is now an ABC News contributor, predicted that it could take up to six months for a decision from the internal affairs investigators.
Pantaleo will still be subject to two other possible punishments, however, the first being the federal civil rights investigation and the second being the $75 million wrongful death suit that Garner's relatives have indicated they intend to file against him and the police department.