(CBS) - Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that they won't bring criminal charges against a white New York City police officer in the 2014 chokehold death of Eric Garner, a black man whose dying words - "I can't breathe" - became a rallying cry as the nation confronted a long history of police brutality. The decision to end a years long civil rights investigation was made by Attorney General William Barr and was announced the day before the five-year anniversary of the deadly encounter, just as the statute of limitations was set to expire.
Barr disregarded a recommendation by civil rights prosecutors in Washington who favored filing criminal charges against Officer Daniel Pantaleo, siding instead with prosecutors in Brooklyn who said the evidence wasn't sufficient to make a case, a Justice Department official told The Associated Press.
Garner's mother, Gwen Carr, and the Rev. Al Sharpton said they were outraged and heartbroken. Sharpton called for the NYPD to fire Pantaleo, who's been on desk duty since Garner's death and is awaiting the results of a disciplinary hearing that could lead to termination.
"We are here with heavy hearts, because the DOJ has failed us," said Carr, who has become a vocal advocate of police reform in the years since her son's death. "Five years ago, my son said "I can't breathe" 11 times. Today, we can't breathe."
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