Four first responders were suspended on Monday after allegations they failed to provide adequate care to Eric Garner, a Staten Island resident whose death while in police custody was caught on video last week, the New York Post reported.
The first responders, all of whom work for Richmond University Hospital, will not go on any ambulance runs until a Fire Department investigation into Garner's death is complete, city officials told NBC.
Police officers attempted to arrest Garner last week in Staten Island on suspicion that he was selling untaxed cigarettes, or "loosies." Garner resisted, claiming that he had done nothing wrong. The officers then subdued him violently, with one of them, Daniel Pantaleo, placing Garner on a chokehold. Garner, 43-years-old, stopped breathing and died.
A bystander caught the botched arrest on video. The short clip shows Garner, who reportedly suffered from asthma and a variety of other physical ailments, repeatedly saying, "I can't breathe."
NYPD procedures prohibit the use of chokeholds, which can be fatal. Pantaleo has been stripped of his gun and badge and placed in "desk duty" while the department investigates his involvement in Garner's death.