NYPD union president slams judge's recommendation to fire Daniel Pantaleo over Eric Garner's death

The president of New York’s biggest police union has slammed a judge’s recommendation to fire Officer Daniel Pantaleo over the death of Eric Gardner who lost consciousness and later died shortly after being placed in a chokehold in 2014. Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch urged the department’s commissioner to ignore administrative judge Rosemary Maldonado’s guidance Eric Garner died after Pantaleo put him in a chokehold during a 2014 arrest. He understands this was going to be the toughest road because of politics.’ Lynch went on to call the recommendation ‘horrendous’, adding that it would be a grave mistake for Police Commissioner James O’Neill to follow it, citing concerns of setting an unwelcome precedent Pantaleo’s lawyer, Stuart London, also joined Lynch of stage and expressed his client’s ‘disappointment’ over Maldonado’s opinion Cell phone video shot by Garner's friend, Ramsey Orta, showed Pantaleo taking Garner to the ground after he and another officer confronted him over suspicions he was selling loose, untaxed cigarettes outside a Staten Island convenience store Rosemarie Maldonado, a deputy police commissioner who oversees disciplinary hearings, reached her verdict after overseeing officer Daniel Pantaleo's disciplinary trial earlier this year. Garner's daughter Emerald is seen wiping away tears during a prayer on the steps on the National Action Network headquarters Protesters hold signs calling for Pantaleo's firing from the NYPD during the July press conference A senior Justice Department official said Attorney General William Barr ultimately decided not to side with prosecutors in the Justice Department's civil rights division who wanted to charge Pantaleo. De Blasio, a Democrat and a presidential candidate, says it was a 'mistake' for New York City to wait years for federal prosecutors to investigate Garner's death before beginning disciplinary proceedings against Pantaleo.