WASHINGTON – The Justice Department will not bring federal charges against a New York City police officer over the death of Eric Garner during a chaotic arrest that ignited nationwide protests five years ago.

The decision, announced Tuesday by Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Richard P. Donoghue, marks the end of a civil rights probe into an episode – much of it captured on video – that helped turn a national spotlight on how police officers use force against minorities.

“Like many of you, I have watched that video many times, and each time I’ve watched it, I’m left with the same reaction: that the death of Eric Garner was a tragedy,” Donoghue said.  “The job of a federal prosecutor, however, is not to let our emotions dictate our decisions. Our job is to review the evidence gathered during the investigation, like the video, to assess whether we can prove that a federal crime was committed.”

Authorities spent years investigating Garner’s death in an examination that proved contentious both inside and outside of the Justice Department. Attorneys in the department’s Civil Rights Division long advocated for bringing a criminal charge, while prosecutors in Brooklyn recommended against it. 

In the end, Donoghue said Attorney General William Barr broke the logjam, deciding in recent days that Justice would not bring a federal civil rights prosecution against officer Daniel Pantaleo.

“The video and the other evidence gathered in the investigation does not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Officer Pantaleo acted willfully in violation of federal law,” Donoghue said.

Garner, a 43-year-old black man, was accused of selling single cigarettes outside a store on Staten Island when Pantaleo attempted to arrest him. Garner gasped, “I can’t breathe,” after Pantaleo and other officers knocked him to the ground with Pantaleo holding him around the head and neck. The video of the encounter would later become a social media phenomenon.   

Garner died soon after. His last words, however, became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement whose members have staged demonstrations against alleged excessive force used by police across the country. The campaign gained increased notoriety as professional athletes and Hollywood’s elite took up the cause, some donning T-shirts emblazoned with Garner’s last words.  

“We’re here with heavy hearts because the DOJ has failed us,” Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, said Tuesday. “Although we looked for better from them, five years ago my son said ‘I can’t breathe’ 11 times and today we can’t breathe because they have let us down.”

The city medical examiner listed Garner’s cause of death as “compression of neck (choke hold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.” The officer’s lawyer, Stuart London, and the police union have denied that Pantaleo used a choke-hold maneuver banned by the NYPD.

The city paid a $5.9 million civil settlement to Garner’s family. Pantaleo has been assigned to administrative duty since Garner’s death.

In 2017, the city’s Civilian Complaints Review Board determined that Pantaleo used excessive force. Pantaleo also is awaiting a verdict in a NYPD disciplinary proceeding.  

Federal authorities have been conducting a separate, years-long civil rights inquiry into Garner’s death.

Wednesday is the five year anniversary of Garner’s death, and the date would have marked the Justice Department’s last opportunity to bring civil rights charges before the statute of limitations expires. An official who was not authorized to speak publicly said prosecutors closed the case without presenting it to a federal grand jury. 

More: Lawyer: NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo a ‘scapegoat’ in Eric Garner’s death

More: Eric Garner grand jury decision fuels protesters’ fury

Months after the arrest, a Staten Island jury declined to indict Pantaleo, a decision that set off angry demonstrations. Pantaleo has denied any wrongdoing.

Garner’s mother vowed that the Justice Department’s decision would not go unchallenged and that the family would seek Pantaleo’s removal from the force.

“We are asking the (police) commissioner to make the right decision,” Carr said. “Officer Pantaleo and all the officers who were involved in my son’s death that day need to be off the force. The streets of New York City are not safe with them walking around. Five years ago, it was my family. Today or tomorrow it could be your family.”

Some civil rights advocates joined the family in expressing outrage with the department’s decision.

“This is a major miscarriage of justice,” said Carmen Perez, executive director of The Gathering for Justice, which helped thrust Garner’s death into the national spotlight. “For the Department of Justice to announce this one day before the 5th anniversary of Eric Garner’s death sends a disrespectful message that black bodies are dispensable to the NYPD and all who’ve had the power to act over the past five years.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, an elected Democrat, said the Justice Department had fallen short of its mandate.

“The entire world saw the same devastating video five years ago, and our eyes did not lie,” James said. “Today’s inaction reflects a DOJ that has turned its back on its fundamental mission – to seek and serve justice.”

But Dontoghue defended the decision, suggesting that the chaotic nature of the struggle involving the officer and Garner resulted in Pantaleo inadvertently grabbing Garner by the neck.

He said Pantaleo tried to employ two approved NYPD tactics to arrest Garner: An armbar, which is used to place handcuffs on a subject and a “rear takedown” or “seatbelt,” which is used knock suspects off balance and bring them to the ground. 

Donoghue said nothing in the video suggested Pantaleo intentionally placed Garner in a choke-hold. He cited the size difference between Pantaleo and Garner as a reason the police officer had trouble subduing Garner.

The prosecutor claimed that Garner complained of being unable to breathe after Pantaleo no longer had him by the neck.  

Medical experts did not agree on the cause of Garner’s fatal cardiac arrest, Donoghue said. While the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy ruled his death a homicide, other experts said it could have been due to the choke-hold or other factors, including Garner’s “serious underlying medical conditions.”

“Today’s announcement is long overdue,”  Donoghue said. “The department owed it to Mr. Garner’s family and the community, to complete the investigation and announce our decision earlier.”