Officer says he inflated charge against Eric Garner

After Eric Garner died following a confrontation with New York City police five years ago, one officer involved in the struggle wrote up paperwork that exaggerated the seriousness of the dead man's suspected crime, according to testimony Tuesday.

Officer Justin Damico testified that after riding in an ambulance with the dying Garner, he went ahead on his own and filled out arrest papers listing a felony tax charge that would have required prosecutors to prove Garner, a small-time street hustler, had sold 10,000 untaxed cigarettes.

Damico spoke at the police department disciplinary trial for Daniel Pantaleo, the officer accused of placing Garner in a banned chokehold as they attempted to arrest him for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes near a Staten Island park in July 2014.

"You initiated this on your own, writing up the arrest of a dead man?" asked Suzanne O'Hare, a lawyer for the police watchdog agency bringing the disciplinary case.

Damico acknowledged that the felony charge was incorrect because Garner actually had with him five packs of Newports that contained a total of less than 100 cigarettes. The cigarettes were marked for sale in Virginia, a telltale sign that they were being resold illegally in New York.

Garner was ultimately charged with two misdemeanors, which alleged that he resisted arrest and sold untaxed cigarettes. The case was not prosecuted because Garner died.

The confrontation with Garner was partially caught on a bystander's cellphone video, ending with Pantaleo grabbing Garner and pulling him to the ground. Garner's dying pleas of "I can't breathe" became a rallying cry against police brutality.

Pantaleo, 33, denies wrongdoing. He has been on desk duty since Garner's death.

Testifying for more than an hour Tuesday, Damico told a nearly full hearing room at police headquarters that he'd given an agitated Garner a warning two weeks before the confrontation.

Damico said he and Pantaleo allowed Garner to vent for about 10 minutes before moving to arrest him because they were reluctant to use physical force.

And he testified that he did see Pantaleo's arm around Garner's neck as the two men struggled — but he didn't say if he thought the move was a chokehold.

Until Tuesday, Damico had never spoken publicly about the case.

Damico testified that he and Pantaleo tried to be patient as Garner screamed that he was tired of continually being harassed by police. They stayed calm even as Garner swatted Damico's hands away and refused to be arrested.

Damico and Pantaleo "utilized textbook de-escalation techniques to limit the use of force against a much larger and irate individual," said Pat Lynch, the president of the union representing officers, the Police Benevolent Association.

"We are convinced that if the politics of the streets are removed from this process and the case is decided on a dispassionate hearing of the facts, that Police Officer Pantaleo will be exonerated," Lynch said.

The NYPD's disciplinary process plays out like a trial in front of an administrative judge.

Normally the purpose is to determine whether an officer violated department rules, but that's only if disciplinary charges are filed within 18 months of an incident.

Because Pantaleo's case languished, the watchdog Civilian Complaint Review Board must show that his actions rose to the level of criminal conduct, even though he faces no criminal charges and is being tried in a department tribunal, not a criminal court.

The final decision on any punishment lies with the police commissioner. Penalties range from the loss of vacation days to firing.

The disciplinary hearing is scheduled to resume June 5.

Pantaleo's lawyers say they will call a medical examiner from St. Louis to rebut the New York medical examiner's finding that a chokehold set into motion "a lethal sequence of events" for Garner.

Garner's family said it's tired of the delays.

This story has been corrected to show that the last name of the officer who testified is Damico, not D'Amico.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia has circulated a U.N. resolution calling on all countries to take urgent action to prevent putting weapons in outer space “for all time” a week after it vetoed a U.S.-Japan resolution to stop an arms race in space.

The Russian draft resolution, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, goes further than the U.S.-Japan proposal, not only calling for efforts to stop weapons from being deployed in outer space but for preventing “the threat or use of force in outer space,” also “for all time.”

It says this should include deploying weapons “from space against Earth, and from Earth against objects in outer space.”

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council when he vetoed the U,S.-Japan draft that it didn’t go far enough in banning all types of weapons in space.

The vetoed resolution focused solely on weapons of mass destruction including nuclear arms, and made no mention of other weapons in space.

It would have called on all countries not to develop or deploy nuclear arms or other weapons of mass destruction in space, as banned under a 1967 international treaty that the U.S. and Russia ratified, and to agree to the need to verify compliance.

Before the U.S.-Japan resolution was put to a vote on April 24, Russia and China proposed an amendment that would call on all countries, especially those with space capabilities, “to prevent for all time the placement of weapons in outer space, and the threat of use of force in outer spaces.”

The vote was 7 countries in favor, 7 against, and one abstention and the amendment was defeated because it failed to get the minimum 9 “yes” votes in the 15-member Security Council required for adoption.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council after the vote that Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space.

“Today’s veto begs the question: Why? Why, if you are following the rules, would you not support a resolution that reaffirms them? What could you possibly be hiding,” she asked. “It’s baffling. And it’s a shame.”

Putin was responding to White House confirmation in February that Russia has obtained a “troubling” anti-satellite weapon capability, although such a weapon is not operational yet.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said after casting the veto that the U.S.-Japan resolution cherry picked weapons of mass destruction.

He said much of the U.S. and Japan’s actions become clear “if we recall that the U.S. and their allies announced some time ago plans to place weapons … in outer space.”

Nebenzia also accused the U.S. of blocking a Russian-Chinese proposal since 2008 for a treaty against putting weapons in outer space.

Thomas-Greenfield accused Russia of undermining global treaties to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, irresponsibly invoking “dangerous nuclear rhetoric,” walking away from several of its arms control obligations, and refusing to engage “in substantive discussions around arms control or risk reduction.”

Much of the Russian draft resolution is exactly the same as the U.S.-Japan draft, including the language on preventing an arms race in space.

It calls on all countries, especially those with major space capabilities, “to contribute actively to the objective of the peaceful use of outer space and of the prevention of an arms race in outer space.”

Thomas-Greenfield said the world is just beginning to understand “the catastrophic ramifications of a nuclear explosion in space.”

FILE - U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Tokyo. The U.N. Security Council is set to vote Wednesday, April 24, 2024, on a resolution announced by Thomas-Greenfield, calling on all nations to prevent a dangerous nuclear arms race in outer space. It is likely to be vetoed by Russia. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool, File)