New law lifts secrecy from Garner officer’s complaint file

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — After years of secrecy, a leak and a recent change in state law, New York City’s police watchdog on Monday disclosed the complaint history for the police officer fired for the 2014 chokehold death of Eric Garner. Records showing former Officer Daniel Pantaleo was the subject of seven complaints to the Civilian Complaint Review Board before Garner’s death were provided to the Associated Press in response to a request under a new state law making police disciplinary files public. Pantaleo’s newly public complaint history mirrors one leaked to the now-defunct website Think Progress in 2017 amid a legal dispute over whether they could be made public. At the time, state law shielded police personnel files from disclosure. A review board investigator identified as the leaker resigned.