There have been over 1,000 complaints of New York City police misconduct in recent years regarding officers\u2019 use of chokeholds, a city agency that is investigating the incidents said days after a man put into hold by police died in Staten Island.<\/p>\n
The Civilian Complaint Review Board has received charges of about 1,022 instances since 2009 in which New York Police Department (NYPD) officers were accused of using chokeholds. Use of such holds are prohibited by the NYPD\u2019s patrol guidelines, which outline a chokehold as a\u00a0\u201cany pressure to the throat or windpipe, which may prevent or hinder breathing or reduce intake of air.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Richard Emery, the chairman of the complaint review board, said the agency was\u00a0\u201cin the unique position of being able to look at the chokehold complaints it has received to attempt to discern why officers continue to use this forbidden practice.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n In only nine of the 1,022 instances has the board gathered enough evidence to definitively say a chokehold had been used. In hundreds of other cases, the board did not have enough evidence to make a determination, or the investigations fell apart when the person lodging the allegation could not be reached or stopped cooperating.<\/p>\n The review board\u2019s study of the incidents was announced on Saturday, two days after Eric Garner, 43, died when officers\u00a0appeared to use a chokehold<\/a>\u00a0– Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has confirmed – in the process of arresting him on a sidewalk in Staten Island.<\/p>\n Garner, father of six who suffered from health problems including severe asthma, argued with officers after they accused him of illegally selling untaxed cigarettes.<\/p>\n In the process of subduing Garner, an NYPD officer – Daniel Pantaleo, the New York Times\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0– threw his arm around Garner\u2019s neck, holding firmly for several seconds as the much-larger Garner fell to the ground. Several other officers arrived on the scene to put handcuffs on Garner, who can be heard in a recording of the incident repeatedly saying,\u00a0\u201cI can\u2019t breathe.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Shortly afterwards, Garner, reportedly in cardiac arrest, stopped moving or responding to police.<\/p>\n \n