New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio Tuesday agreed that five years was too long to come to a decision on whether to fire police officer Daniel Pantaleo after the chokehold death of Eric Garner, but laid the blame at the feet of the U.S. Department of Justice for telling the city not to proceed in the case.
"The important point here is there was justice and there was a fair trial for the first time, and you know where that fair trial happened? It happened at the NYPD," de Blasio told CNN's "New Day."
"An NYPD judge said this was a prohibited chokehold, this is not acceptable. The officer was fired. The effect of real reform where you have a police agency stepping up and saying we need accountability in our own house."
The Justice Department, however, kept the case on hold under "two very different presidential administrations," said de Blasio, and he thinks there should be a law that requires the department provide faster justice.
Since Garner's death, there have also been changes in policing, including the use of body cameras, said de Blasio.
"Eric Garner did not have to die, and there are ways of policing that can stop this from happening," said the mayor. "This NYPD today would never have done things that way, that's the important point, to never let there be another tragedy."
De Blasio also talked about his presidential campaign, including his low ratings in a CNN poll released on Tuesday.
"I"m looking forward to Sunday on this network, a town hall meeting that I think is going to give a lot of people a chance to get to know me," said de Blasio. "Those televised town halls have been crucial for candidates."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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