Fired NYPD cop Daniel Pantaleo will sue Police Commissioner James O’Neill in a bid to win back his job, his lawyer said Monday.
Pantaleo will file a suit under Article 78 of the state Civil Practice Law and Rules, lawyer Stuart London said.
The provision allows people to appeal decisions by government officials or agencies through the courts on grounds that they were “arbitrary and capricious.”
If successful, Pantaleo would get reinstated to the NYPD and be awarded damages for lost wages.
O’Neill fired Pantaleo, 33, on Monday over the death of Eric Garner, 43, in a 2014 incident on Staten Island that fueled the Black Lives Matter movement when cellphone video showed the victim repeatedly shouting, “I can’t breathe!”
London said he was given advance warning of O’Neill’s decision against Pantaleo and shared the information with his client 13 minutes before the commissioner announced that the embattled cop had been fired.
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