Supervising NYPD Officer Charged in Death of Eric Garner

Sergeant Kizzy Adonis was charged and placed on modified duty.

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Almost a year and a half after Eric Garnerwas killed when NYPD officerDaniel Pantaleo placed him in a fatal chokehold, and about a year after a Staten Island grand jury chose not to indict Pantaleo, thereby setting off protests around the country, the NYPD is taking action against additional officers on the scene when Garner died. Kizzy Adonis, Pantaleo's supervising officer, has been served with internal charges and placed on modified duty, Reutersreports.

Adonis was at the scene July 17, 2014, when Pantaleo placed Garner in the chokehold that ended his life. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating Garner's case as a potential civil rights violation; because of this federal prosecutors had requested the NYPD put their internal review on hold. But the department chose to go ahead with charges against Adonis due to a statute of limitations that applied to her case. "All further proceedings concerning the Garner inquiry will continue to be stayed until the conclusion of the federal investigation," the NYPD said in a statement. The department didn't specify what charges Adonis faces.

In July Garner's family was awarded $5.9 million in a legal settlement with New York City, which prevented them from filing a $75 million wrongful death lawsuit. Garner's death, along with the deaths of Tamir Rice, Michael BrownTrayvon Martin, and Freddie Gray, has become a rallying point for those protesting police brutality.

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