NYC To Vote On Criminalizing Chokeholds By Cops In June: Speaker

NEW YORK, NY — A criminal ban on police chokeholds will be amended in light of George Floyd's killing and finally face New York City Council this month, nearly six years after it was first introduced following Eric Garner's death in 2014, Council Speaker Corey Johnson announced Tuesday.

The bill — which will make already-banned chokeholds by the NYPD a crime — is part of a package of legislation Johnson promised will pass City Council in June in response to police brutality protests that have gripped New York City and the nation following Floyd's death at the hands of police in Minnesota last week.

Placing a knee on a person's neck, as the since-arrested officer did in Floyd's death, will be added to the bill on chokeholds. The officer who placed the fatal chokehold on Garner in Staten Island was fired but never charged.

"New York should have passed this a long time ago," Rev. Al Sharpton said at the Foley Square press conference. "Maybe the police would not have thought they could have gotten away with it with Floyd if they saw the signal in New York."

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Johnson, who was not speaker in 2014, apologized that it took six years for New York City to vote on the bills introduced after Garner's death, which also includes a call for a "disciplinary matrix" in the NYPD. He vowed to ensure they pass City Council in June with a veto-proof majority.

"It should not take the murder of a black man in Minneapolis to pass these bills," Johnson said at the Foley Square press conference, which Garner's mom attended. "These bills should have passed after the death of Eric Garner in New York City."

Garner and Floyd's same last words — "I can't breathe" — have become a rallying cry for the nationwide Black Lives Matter movement.

The bill against the use of chokeholds would make using any technique that "restricts the flow of air" a misdemeanor and will face a hearing on June 9.

The call for a disciplinary matrix would require the NYPD to create "clear guidelines for police discipline" that will be made public. Lawmakers say it will prevent disparities in how police officers are reprimanded for the same misconduct and let the public understand the penalties.

"The message is simple, every single police officer should be held at the same standard," said Council Member Donovan Richards, the sponsor of the bill. "Gone are the days of your connections helping you get out of being held accountable."

Council Members also said they will vote on three resolutions to support similar legislation against chokeholds at the state and federal level, and a bill to repeal a law known as 50-a, shields police officers' disciplinary records from being released to the public.

"Today we stand here with a bit of victory," Garner's mother, Gwen Carr said Tuesday. "New York: Stand up, man up and stop these killings."