Police officer Daniel Pantaleo, who restrained Eric Garner in a chokehold shortly before Garner died on Staten Island in 2014,
has steadily increased his earnings including a sharp jump in overtime pay in the two years since he was placed on modified duty.
Pantaleo earned $119,996 in fiscal year 2016, which includes earnings between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016. His base pay was $78,026 and he earned $23,220 in overtime, according to a review of payroll records. He received an additional $12,853 in unspecified pay, which could include retroactive pay or bonuses.
Pantaleo's earnings in 2016 represent a 35 percent increase in overtime pay, and a 14 percent overall increase from the previous fiscal year, which began shortly before Garner's death on July 17, 2014.
In that 12-month period, ending June 30, 2015, Pantaleo earned $105,061, with $76,488 base pay, $17,109 in overtime and $11,673 in additional earnings, records show.
In fiscal year 2014, which was completed before Garner's death and Pantaleo's subsequent reassignment, he made $99,915, which included $17,189 in overtime.
Pantaleo was seen on video helping wrestle Garner to the ground after Garner, who was unarmed, refused to be arrested for allegedly selling loose cigarettes outside a convenience store. The city's medical examiner later determined the "choke hold" contributed to Garner's death.
Pantaleo was stripped of his gun and badge after Garner's death and placed on modified assignment, pending an investigation by the department. A Staten Island grand jury declined to indict him in December of 2014.
Police commissioner Bill Bratton said in July that
the department's own investigation into Pantaleo's actions is "for all practical purposes," completed, but the department is awaiting the outcome of a federal investigation.
In April, Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration abruptly stopped disclosing information on disciplinary cases within the police department, reversing four decades of precedent.
The payroll records suggest that, as of July, Pantaleo had not yet received any disciplinary action from the department that affected his earnings.
Asked about Pantaleo's overtime earnings, NYPD spokesman John Grimpel wrote in an email, "At times, officers are required to work beyond their scheduled tour of duty. This includes officers on modified assignment."
A spokesman for de Blasio declined to comment.
POLITICO reviewed the payroll records following a recent outcry from police reform activists, elected officials and Garner's family calling for the city to release Pantaleo's disciplinary records.
The mayor has said he would prefer to release disciplinary records of police officers, but said he is bound by state law. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has questioned that explanation, saying the mayor was using the law as a "scapegoat."
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http://www.politico.com/states/new-...eath-boosts-overtime-pay-105359#ixzz4Kq91YKbH
