NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City police officer faces criminal charges that he tried to arrest a man by using a chokehold that was banned after the death of George Floyd, prosecutors said.
Officer Omar Habib, 40, was arraigned Thursday on charges including strangulation, criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation and using unlawful methods of restraint, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a news release.
Habib was responding to a 911 call at a Bronx catering hall on July 29, 2023 when a drunk and disorderly man resisted arrest, Clark said.
The district attorney said Habib placed the man in a chokehold so tight it impeded his breathing and circulation and made him pass out.
“The defendant allegedly violated his oath of office by employing a technique to subdue a suspect which is specifically prohibited under New York City law,” Clark said. “Police officers must adhere to the law.”
A spokesperson for the New York Police Department said Habib, who joined the department in 2007, has been suspended without pay.
Habib’s attorney, Jacob Z. Weinstein, said the officer “will be absolutely vindicated from all these charges.”
“Like anyone else, criminally accused police officers are presumed innocent until proven guilty and are entitled to due process and a fair hearing on the facts and the law,” Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said in a statement.
Habib was charged under a 2020 law passed by New York’s City Council in response to Floyd’s death in Minneapolis that made it a crime for police officers to use chokeholds or sit, kneel, or stand on someone’s torso during an arrest.
The law was challenged by police unions but was upheld last year by New York state’s highest court.
Clark said Habib is the first officer to be prosecuted in the Bronx under the 2020 chokehold law.
Police use of chokeholds was already banned in most cases by NYPD regulations at the time the city law was enacted, but officers who used them were rarely prosecuted.
A police officer accused of using a prohibited chokehold on Eric Garner, who died during an arrest in 2014, lost his job with the city but faced no criminal charges.
Before his recent arrest, Habib had a history of substantiated misconduct complaints about excessive force and abusing his authority. He was previously cited by the department for using a chokehold in 2017, an incident that was later the subject of news stories about officers continuing to use banned restraints.
Habib was also accused of lying under oath and tampering with evidence in a 2016 gun raid, prompting several defendants to withdraw their guilty pleas.
