NYPD officer charged with using chokehold banned after George Floyd’s death
NEW YORK — A New York City police officer is accused of arresting a man using a chokehold that was banned after the death of George Floydaccording to the prosecutors.
Officer Omar Habib, 40, was arraigned Thursday on charges including strangulation, criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation and use of unlawful restraint, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a news release.
Habib responded to a 911 call at a Bronx establishment on July 29, 2023, when an intoxicated and disorderly man resisted arrest, Clark said.
The prosecutor said Habib had put the man in a chokehold so tight it cut off his breathing and circulation, causing him to fall unconscious.
“The defendant allegedly violated his oath of office by using a technique to subdue a suspect that is specifically prohibited under New York City law,” Clark said. “Police officers must follow the law.”
A New York Police Department spokesman said Habib, who joined the force in 2007, has been suspended without pay.
Habib’s attorney, Jacob Z. Weinstein, said the officer “will be absolutely acquitted of all of these charges.”
“Like everyone else, police officers accused of a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty and are entitled to a fair trial and due process on the facts and the law,” Patrick Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Association, said in a statement.
Habib was charged under a law passed by the New York City Council in 2020 following Floyd’s death in Minneapolis that makes it illegal for police officers to use a chokehold or sit, kneel or stand on someone’s torso during an arrest.
The law was challenged by police unions, but was maintained last year by the Supreme Court of the State of New York.
Clark said Habib is the first officer in the Bronx to be prosecuted under the 2020 law regulating chokeholds.
The use of chokeholds by police was already prohibited by NYPD regulations in most cases when the city law was passed. However, officers who did use the chokehold were rarely prosecuted.
A police officer accused of using a prohibited chokehold on Eric Garner, who died during an arrest in 2014lost his job with the city but was not prosecuted.
Before his recent arrest, Habib had a history of substantiated misconduct complaints involving excessive force and abuse of authority. He was previously cited by the department for using a chokehold in 2017, an incident that later became the subject of news stories about officers who still use prohibited coercive measures.
Habib was also accused of lie under oath And tampering with evidence in a 2016 gun raid, which led several suspects to withdraw their guilty pleas.