No departmental trial for NYPD sergeant who oversaw Eric Garner arrest
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- The NYPD concluded its action related to the Eric Garner death on Wednesday when it announced the sergeant who oversaw Garner's arrest would not face a departmental trial.
Instead, Sgt. Kizzy Adonis will be docked 20 vacation days for failure to properly supervise Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who was terminated earlier this week.
Officials said Adonis pleaded guilty to departmental charges and accepted the loss of vacation days as part of that plea. Therefore, the departmental trial was not necessary.
"This disciplinary case was adjudicated," Assistant Commissioner Devora Kaye said in a statement.
At the time of the incident, Adonis was a newly promoted sergeant who had been assigned to the Staten Island precinct on July 9, 2014.
WATCH: Sergeants' union responds to outcome of Adonis case
Police officials say Adonis had no prior disciplinary history and has received positive evaluations in her prior and current assignments.
Police Commissioner James O'Neill reportedly evaluated Adonis' supervision of officers under her command that day and found that it was lacking in certain areas.
That analysis concluded by noting that nothing about her actions on that day either caused the use of the banned chokehold or delayed the arrival of medical attention for Garner.
"I'm not one bit surprised, but I am outraged and disgusted by how the de Blasio administration and the NYPD continue to show that they don't care about the murder of my son or black lives," Garner's mother, Gwen Carr, said in a statement. "Sgt. Adonis has had charges pending for years. It's disgraceful that they waited more than five years until after Pantaleo was fired to cut her a deal so that all she's facing is losing some vacation days and they want us to accept these crumbs as if there is some justice. By refusing to schedule a disciplinary trial for Adonis, de Blasio and the NYPD are actively participating in an ongoing cover-up because they don't want the public to know how deep, how wide and how high the wrongdoing in this case went. Their actions are disgraceful but I am not going to back down. I will continue to fight until the Mayor and NYPD bring disciplinary charges and fire Justin D'Amico, Lt. Christopher Bannon, Craig Furlani, and Mark Ramos - and until they release the names of other officers who engaged in misconduct like illegally leaking sealed records. I'm going to continue to fight because letting these officers stay on the force and continue to be paid by taxpayers is an injustice to Eric and it's dangerous for all New Yorkers."
Adonis remains on full duty, and no other officers will be penalized despite some questions of their conduct raised during Pantaleo's departmental trial.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, president of The National Action Network (NAN), released the following statement:
"The decision by the NYPD to dock Sgt. Kizzy Adonis 20 vacation days is too little too late. In fact, the loss of vacation days is akin to no penalty at all. If the penalty for not doing your job is that you can keep doing your job, it is an injustice to the family of Eric Garner and the residents of New York City. We want all of the officers involved in Eric's case to be brought to justice, including the NYPD Lt. Christopher Bannon who texted another officer that the incident with Eric Garner was 'not a big deal.' We will continue to press for justice on all avenues, including with congressional hearings in the fall as agreed to by Representative Jerry Nadler, chair of the House Judiciary Committee."
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