Eric Garner: civil rights probe launched into chokehold killing

The US Department of Justice is to launch a civil rights investigation into the killing of Eric Garner by a New York police officer after a grand jury failed to indict him, sparking protests across the city.

US attorney General Eric Holder announced that "an independent, thorough, fair and expeditious" investigation into potential civil rights violations would begin immediately.

Garner, an unarmed African American man, died after being placed in a banned chokehold by white police officer Daniel Pantaleo in July.

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The 43-year old was stopped by police for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes on the streets of Staten Island. Cell phone footage released shows Pantaleo placing his arm around Garner's neck, choking him, tackling him to the ground and pushing his head into the pavement after Garner refused to be placed in handcuffs.

It then shows Garner, who suffers from asthma, repeatedly screaming: "I can't breathe!"

"On that video you can see the most cruel horrible thing that someone could do to someone," his daughter Erica Snipes told the BBC.

"Here you have a man choked to death on videotape and he says 11 times 'I can't breathe,'" said civil rights activist Al Sharpton, calling for further protests in Washington. "After 11 times of ‘I can’t breathe,’ when does your humanity kick in?”

A New York medical examiner ruled Garner's death a homicide, saying "the compression of his chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police," had killed him. It added that his asthma and obesity were also contributing factors.

Yesterday's grand jury decision not to place charges against Pantaleo comes just over a week after a separate ruling cleared the officer who shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

Both rulings have sparked national outrage and widespread protests and have "amplified the sense of racial injustice felt by those who believe the decision[s] [are] inexplicable," writes the [b] BBC's Nick Bryant.

"Communities, particularly those of colour, have the right to expect to be protected by police and should not have to live in fear of them," said Amnesty International's US director Steven Hawkins.

However, legal analysts warn that the investigation may still not deliver the justice Garner's family want as the "law sets a high standard for civil rights charges," Bloomberg reports.

"The prosecutor has to show that the police officer intended to deprive the victim of his constitutional rights, his civil rights,” said law professor Randolph McLaughlin. "That's a tough nut to crack."