Video After The Jump
CNN - The New York Police Department officer seen on video putting a man into a chokehold during an arrest over the weekend was arrested and charged Thursday, the NYPD said in a statement.
The officer, David Afanador, 39, was charged with "attempted strangulation" and "strangulation," the statement read.
Afanador probably would be arraigned Thursday morning, the Queens District Attorney's Office tells CNN.
The NYPD suspended Afanador without pay after cellphone video surfaced showing officers tackling 35-year-old Ricky Bellevue and Afanador putting his arm around Bellevue’s neck as he lay face down on the boardwalk.
Bellevue’s lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein, said in a statement that Afanador’s arrest is the “first step in getting justice for Ricky Bellevue.”
“The next step is for this police officer to be convicted and sentenced to jail,” Rubenstein said.
The New York City Council last week passed a package of police reform measures, including an official ban on chokeholds. The bills passed amid nationwide protests spurred by the death of George Floyd after a Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee to his neck for several minutes.
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