Staten Island, NY – The man who shot video of an NYPD officer putting a chokehold on a Staten Island dad that ultimately killed him says the police are now following him and harassing him.
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The NY Daily News (http://nydn.us/1kARjtG) reports Ramsey Orta, 22, told the newspaper via phone that the officers who charged him with gun possession have been following him since he was revealed as the videographer who took footage of 43-year-old Eric Garner being put into a chokehold by police.
Orta pleaded not guilty Monday to a charge of handing off a stolen .25-caliber gun to 17-year-old Alba Lekaj in Staten Island. His bail was set at $75,000.
The department has denied it is targeting Orta.
Orta has been arrested 27 times since 2009 for offenses ranging from fare evasion to pot possession to a robbery. He was also arrested twice for gun possession and was charged with menacing with a gun in January 2013.
Orta’s arrest came one day after the Medical Examiner ruled Garner’s death on July 17 was a homicide, and that the chokehold placed on him by police officer Daniel Pantaleo killed him.
Garner was confronted by police in Tompkinsville for purportedly selling unlicensed cigarettes on the street. The video showed Officer Pantaleo wrapping an arm around Garner’s neck as the 350-pound man was brought down. Garner could be heard screaming, “I can’t breathe.”
Pantaleo has not been charged with a crime and has been placed on desk duty. Justin Damico, the other officer involved in the incident, was also placed on desk duty.
The use of the chokehold was banned by the NYPD in 1993.
Information taken from NY Daily News.
I belive him
I don’t know, but I am inclined to believe him.
What’s the difference? Would it be better if a nice honest citizen with a clean record caught the arrest on tape? Sure! But this is who was there and this is who recorded it. The fact that the guy has 27 arrests does not change the recording. He could be dressed as an evil clown, steal candies from children and kick cute little puppies across the street. What’s the difference? The recording is what it is. People need to accept that and move on. It exists and it’s not a good recording for the NYPD. Period.
The NYPD are not tzadikkim but they’re the best we have.
If he knew the cops were following him, why was he stupid enough to carry a gun and face mandatory jail time? And the very holy reverand Sharpton should realize than in all probability if the gun hadn’t been seized by the NYPD it would have been used by a young Black man to shoot another young Black man.
Blacks shooting Blacks should cocencern Sharpton and he should applaud the arrest of the career criminal since it probably prevented a shooting of a young Black man.