NYPD judge: Pantaelo was 'untruthful'

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - Officer Daniel Pantaleo was “untruthful” during his interview with investigators after the death of Eric Garner.

In fact, the Staten Island cop’s repeated denial that he used an illegal chokehold on Garner in 2014, is “implausible and self-serving.”

All of this is according to a 46-page opinion from Judge Rosemarie Maldonado, a Deputy Commissioner with the NYPD who oversaw Pantaleo's interdepartmental trial.

The judge refers to the now viral-video of Garner’s death as pivotal to proving not only that the officer had violated police rules, but that his conduct was a crime.

“[Pantaleo’s] use of a chokehold fell so far short of objective reasonableness that this tribunal found it to be reckless — a gross deviation from the standard of conduct established for a New York City police officer.”

The judge also writes about Garner's autopsy report that found fresh hemorrhaging in his neck muscles.

The judge says it provides overwhelming evidence that Officer Pantaleo used a chokehold despite being trained not to. Moreover, Maldonado writes the NYPD officers who testified on Pantaleo's behalf were, “unhelpful or unreliable...The more central the factual inquiry was, the more vague the recollections became.”

All of this is of vital importance as Police Commissioner James O'Neill is expected to decide the fate of Pantaelo by the end of August.

O'Neill will also be considering a response from Pantaelo's defense lawyer, Stuart London.

The opinion of the judge is clear Officer Pantaelo: "can no longer remain a New York City police officer.”