Bottom line, the officer did not use a ‘choke hold’. The method he used was taught in the academy.
“During his testimony before the grand jury, Pantaleo denied using a chokehold on Garner, saying he applied “a takedown move as he was taught in the [Police] Academy,” London said.”
“He testified in the grand jury that he utilized the techniques that he was trained with in the police academy,” Pantaleo’s attorney, Stuart London, told CBS2’s Kramer. “He was attempting to do a take-down move, which he was taught in the academy. He never intended to apply any force to the individual’s neck, and any contact with the neck was incidental.”
There's also the point that he was being directly supervised and personally directed by the black female sergeant whose back can be observed in one of the frames of the video and she did nothing either the stop the takedown or alter the restraint moves that were made on the decedent. There appear to be two different types of “choke holds,” one that's allowed and one that isn't and the officer, under direct, personal supervision by a black female superior, used the allowed hold. All of that makes it very hard to conclude he was even negligent in the takedown he used and, thus, that he had any logical reason to believe the maneuver placed Garner in any reasonable risk of death.