Activists deliver thousands of petitions to Mayor Bill de Blasio to fire Pantaleo, other cops

Activists on Wednesday delivered thousands of petitions to Mayor Bill de Blasio's office demanding the firing of NYPD cops involved in fatal confrontations — two years apart —  that left unarmed civilians, including Eric Garner, dead.

Cardboard boxes holding what activists said totaled about 61,000 petitions called for the firing of Daniel Pantaleo, the lead arresting officer in the 2014 Garner case, and others involved in the arrest. The petition also seeks the firing of Wayne Isaacs, an off-duty officer who in 2016 shot unarmed Delrawn Small, who the officer said attacked him during a traffic dispute.

The petition said: "Your inaction is sending a message to New Yorkers that the lives of Eric Garner and Delrawn Small do not matter."

De Blasio has argued that state law, the New York City charter, along with judicial precedent, precludes him from ordering a cop's firing, or even saying publicly what he thinks should happen.

In a statement read Wednesday by Valerie Bell —  mother of Sean Bell, an about-to-be-married groom who was killed in 2006 in Queens by NYPD cops who mistakenly thought he was armed and about to commit a drive-by — Garner's mother, Gwen Carr, said: "It warms my heart that at this time, tens of thousands of New Yorkers signed the petition... to demand that the mayor fire Wayne Isaacs for murdering Delrawn Small three years ago, as well as Pantaleo."

In the Small case, Isaacs was acquitted in 2017 of murder and manslaughter. An 11-second surveillance video from the July 4, 2016, encounter, played in court, shows Small getting out of his car at a traffic light in Brooklyn, walking around another car to Isaacs', and within a second, Small falling back after apparently being shot.

On Wednesday, his sister, Victoria Davis, lamented that she doesn't know whether Isaacs is still on the force, and if so in what capacity.

"We are here today to remind New Yorkers and remind the city and everyone else that Delrawn's life does matter and to remind Mayor de Blasio that Delrawn matters, Black Lives Matter, and he cannot continue to ignore Delrawn," she said.

During the activists' news conference to announce the petitions' delivery, de Blasio and his entourage exited City Hall; the activists chanted "Fire Pantaleo! Fire Wayne Isaacs!" De Blasio ignored them , walked to his NYPD-driven minivan and left through the City Hall gates.

The NYPD did not respond to an email Tuesday night seeking information about the police officers' standing with the department. De Blasio's office didn't respond to an email Wednesday, but mayoral spokesman for community and ethnic media Jose Bayona accepted the petitions.

The Garner case catalyzed the nascent Black Lives Matter movement, with his dying words,  "I can't breathe" — uttered 11 times and captured on a bystanders' cellphone video — becoming the movement's rallying cry.

The city medical examiner later ruled that an asthma attack, triggered by the chokehold, caused Garner's death.

Last week, an NYPD administrative law judge recommended that Pantaleo be fired for using the long-banned chokehold maneuver while trying to arrest Garner, 43, for selling untaxed, "loosie" cigarettes on a Staten Island street on July 17, 2014. She presided over an administrative trial earlier this year at NYPD headquarters, where a medical examiner flown in from St. Louis, hired by Pantaleo's defense, disagreed with his counterpart's conclusion, and said Garner's poor health was to blame.

The police commissioner now decides how and whether to penalize Pantaleo, who has been on restricted duty since the death but has gotten pay raises. He wasn't criminally charged.

In the Bell case, the officers were acquitted at trial in 2008; all but one were fired or left the force.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.