Eric Garner Videographer Claims NYPD Harassment

Ever since filming a New York City Police Department officer placing 43-year-old Eric Garner in a fatal choke hold last month in Staten Island, N.Y., Ramsey Ortaโ€™s life has been a living hell, he told a judge Monday. Suggested Reading A Peek Inside Travis Hunter’s New Jacksonville Mansion Cardi B, Offset and the Real Reasons…

Ever since filming a New York City Police Department officer placing 43-year-old Eric Garner in a fatal choke hold last month in Staten Island, N.Y., Ramsey Ortaโ€™s life has been a living hell, he told a judge Monday.

Video will return here when scrolled back into view
AI Is the New Civil Rights Frontier: Loren Douglass on Wealth, Politics & Power
AI Is the New Civil Rights Frontier: Loren Douglass on Wealth, Politics & Power

Orta, 22, was arrested late Saturday on a weapons possession charge after police observed him exiting a hotel known for drug activity and placing an object in the waistband of a female companion. But he told the judge that heโ€™s being set up by police because of the video that went viral, New Yorkโ€™s Daily News reports.

โ€œThey lying on me, they doing me wrong,โ€ Orta said after pleading not guilty Monday, the Daily News reports. โ€œIโ€™ve been harassed by the police since this whole videoโ€ emerged. His bail was set at $75,000.

Later, in a telephone interview with the Daily News, Orta said that when the officers arrested him, they โ€œstarted videotaping me before I even went to the precinct.

โ€œโ€˜I said, โ€˜Excuse me, Officer, youโ€™re violating my rights now,โ€™โ€ Orta told the News. โ€œThatโ€™s when [one of the officers] said, โ€˜Shut your mouth,โ€™ and โ€˜Karmaโ€™s a bitch. What goes around comes around.โ€™โ€

Police officials declined to comment to the Daily News about Ortaโ€™s claims, but a source told the site that โ€œthe facts speak for themselves.โ€

Sources also told the News that Orta is no stranger to the criminal-justice system. โ€œHe has been arrested 27 times since 2009 for offenses ranging from fare evasion and pot possession to a robbery in May,โ€ the News writes. โ€œHe was also busted twice for gun possession and in January 2013 he was charged with menacing with a gun.โ€

Ortaโ€™s viral cellphone video captured Officer Daniel Pantaleo using an illegal choke hold last month on Garner, who was the father of six. The New York City Medical Examinerโ€™s Officeย ruled the death a homicide on Friday. Pantaleo has been placed on desk duty and stripped of his gun and badge. Officer Justin Damico was also placed on desk duty but still has his gun and badge, police said.

Read more at the New York Daily News.

Straight From The Root

Sign up for our free daily newsletter.