A landmark decision unfolded on Thursday as a New York City Police Department officer was convicted of illegal restraint, including strangulation and a banned chokehold. This case marks the first conviction under the city’s 2020 legislation, which was introduced following the widespread outcry over the murder of George Floyd by officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis.
Officer Omar Habib faced conviction for violating a law that specifically prohibits certain physical restraint methods used by police. In addition to this, he was found guilty of a second-degree felony for strangulation and a misdemeanor charge of third-degree assault.
The serious nature of the felony strangulation charge subjects Habib to a maximum potential sentence of seven years of imprisonment. Bronx Criminal Supreme Court Judge Cynthia Isales has denied him bail, emphasizing the severity of the offenses.
After his felony conviction, Habib, who had been previously suspended without pay, was officially dismissed from the force. His career with the NYPD, which began in 2007, ended as a legal consequence of his criminal actions, adhering strictly to regulatory requirements.
This pivotal case involves a New York City Police Department officer sentenced for strangulation and utilizing an outlawed chokehold. (Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
He was responding to a 911 call at a Bronx catering hall on July 28, 2023, when a drunk and disorderly man resisted arrest, according to Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark. Prosecutors said Habib put the man in a chokehold so tight that it impeded his breathing and circulation and caused him to lose consciousness.
Habib’s attorney argued during the trial that other factors could have caused the man to pass out, such as drinking without eating enough food.
Before his arrest, Habib had a history of substantiated misconduct complaints about excessive use of force and abusing his authority.
The Civilian Complaint Review Board substantiated an allegation that Habib used a chokehold in a separate 2017 encounter. Habib was also accused of lying under oath and tampering with evidence in a 2016 gun raid, resulting in several defendants withdrawing their guilty pleas.
Before his arrest, Omar Habib had a history of substantiated misconduct complaints about excessive use of force and abusing his authority. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The president of the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York, Patrick Hendry, denounced Thursday’s verdict.
The officer’s conviction was “further proof of a grim reality: every second police officers spend on this job puts them at risk of criminal prosecution, and pervasive anti-police propaganda has made it incredibly difficult to receive a fair trial,” the police union boss said, according to the New York Daily News.
Habib was charged under a 2020 city law that was passed after Floyd’s murder in May of that year, sparking racial justice protests and a push for police accountability across the country. The New York City measure criminalizes chokeholds and certain forms of pressure on an arrestee’s chest or back that compress the diaphragm while an officer is making or attempting an arrest.
Omar Habib was charged under a 2020 city law that was passed after George Floyd’s murder in May of that year, sparking racial justice protests. (Emilie Richardson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The law was challenged by police unions but was upheld by New York state’s highest court in 2023.
Police use of chokeholds was already prohibited in most cases by NYPD policy when the law was enacted, but officers who used them were almost never prosecuted.
NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo lost his job but faced no criminal charges after a department disciplinary proceeding found that he used a prohibited chokehold on Eric Garner, who died during a 2014 arrest after repeatedly saying he could not breathe, fueling protests over police use of force.