New York City settles with Eric Garner's family for $5.9 million

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The family of Eric Garner, the unarmed black man who died after being placed in a chokehold by police, has reached a settlement with New York City for $5.9 million.

The family filed a notice of claim, the first step in filing a lawsuit against the city, in October, asking for $75 million, The Associated Press reports. Last July, police stopped Garner outside of a store on Staten Island for selling loose cigarettes, and a bystander captured on video officers taking Garner down to the ground in what an officer later said was a legal maneuver known as a "seatbelt." Garner was asthmatic, and was heard saying, "I can't breathe" 11 times before he lost consciousness. He was then taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.