Eric Garner's family reportedly turned down a $5 million settlement, wants $75 million

New York City offered the widow of Eric Garner $5 million for the wrongful death of her husband, an unarmed black man who was killed last summer when police put him in a chokehold while arresting him for selling untaxed cigarettes. Esaw Garner and her family declined the $5 million offer last week, says an unnamed source who spoke to the New York Daily News. The family has said they intend to seek $75 million. Garner was captured on video saying "I can't breathe" during the arrest, and his death sparked massive protests in New York and elsewhere.

The $5 million would have been one of the largest wrongful death settlements in the history of the NYPD, the Daily News reports. By comparison, the family of Anthony Baez, who was killed in 1998 from a chokehold, agreed to $3 million. The family of Sean Bell, who was shot at a party in 2006, received $3.25 million.

The Garners have until Friday to finalize negotiations, when the statute of limitations will require a wrongful death filing. A civil rights lawyer who spoke with the Daily News said the $5 million offered by the city was "very substantial," and that settlements are decided by calculating the victim's conscious pain in addition to loss of family income. While Garner is estimated to have suffered for a relatively short period of time, due to the highly publicized nature of his death, the lawyer agreed that the family's settlement would likely be higher than a typical wrongful death case.

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