NYPD fires Officer Daniel Pantaleo in chokehold death of Eric Garner NYPD cop Daniel Panatelo has been fired for causing the chokehold death of Eric Garner, Police Commissioner James O’Neill announced Monday. O’Neill’s widely expected decision to fire the embattled cop endorsed the recommendation of a deputy commissioner who presided over Pantaleo’s departmental trial earlier this year. It also came after Mayor Bill de Blasio proclaimed that Garner’s family was “going to get justice…in the next 30 days” during a Democratic presidential primary debate on July 31.