A white New York City police officer was cleared Wednesday in the alleged chokehold death of an unarmed black man stopped on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, a case that sparked outrage and drew comparisons to the deadly police shooting in Ferguson, Mo.
The decision by the Staten Island grand jury not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo threatened to add to the tensions that have simmered in the city since the July 17 death of Eric Garner. It also prompted Pantaleo’s first public comments on the death.
