NYPD judge recommends officer in Eric Garner case should be fired

A New York Police Department judge has recommended the firing of Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who faced disciplinary charges over the 2014 death of Eric Garner, according to officials with direct knowledge of the decision.

NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado handed over her decision on Friday to Officer Pantaleo’s lawyers and to New York City’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, whose attorneys prosecuted the disciplinary case against the officer. Officials from the Civilian Complaint Review Board and Mr. Pantaleo’s lawyers will have up to two weeks to provide comments on the judge’s recommendation to fire Mr. Pantaleo.

The recommendation and comments will then be taken up by NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill, who is expected to terminate Mr. Pantaleo, according to the officials with direct knowledge of the matter. Commissioner O’Neill’s decision is expected later this month.

Gwen Carr, Mr. Garner’s mother, said she had been fighting for justice for her son for five years and the decision was “long overdue.”

“Mayor de Blasio and the NYPD have put up roadblocks and delays every step of the way,” she said. “It brings me some relief to learn that Judge Maldonado has recommended that Pantaleo be fired.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, praised the NYPD for completing the hearing, although he didn’t directly address the contents of Ms. Maldonado’s recommendation, which is being withheld from public disclosure.

“Today, we finally saw a step towards justice and accountability. We saw a process that was actually fair and impartial,” Mr. de Blasio said in a news conference at City Hall. “If you believe there is a fair and impartial process—and I do—letting it reach its conclusion beyond reproach is necessary,” he added.

[SOURCE: WALL STREET JOURNAL]

NYC removes statue of doctor who experimented on slaves

A bronze statue of a 19th century doctor who did experimental surgery without anesthesia on enslaved African-American women was removed from Central Park on Tuesday.

New York City's Public Design Commission voted Monday to accept a mayoral panel's recommendation to remove the statue of Dr. J. Marion Sims for relocation to Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery, where Sims is buried, accompanied by signage with historical context.

Dr. Bernadith Russell, a gynecologist, emotionally embraced a friend as they watched the statue being removed.

Russell said that when she was in medical school, Sims "was held up as the father of gynecology with no acknowledgement of the enslaved women he experimented on."

The commission's president, Signe Nielsen, wept on Monday when she called for the vote, The New York Times reported.

The names of many black women on whom Sims operated are unknown. Three of the names he recorded were Anarcha, Betsy and Lucy.

"I'm not a woman of color, but I am deeply moved by what we heard today," said Nielsen.

Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio called for a review of "symbols of hate" on city property eight months ago following a white supremacist protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August that left a person dead. The issue of possibly removing Confederate monuments initially prompted the white nationalists to gather.

Amrit Trewn, an activist who had advocated for demolition, said the decision to relocate the statue means "that this physical representation of anti-black violence will still stand and maintain its presence in the heart of yet another community of color."

Michele Bogart, a former member of the design commission and an art history professor, had urged that the statue remain in Central Park, saying: "History matters. ... Don't run from it."

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