How the N.Y.P.D. Commissioner Grappled With the Eric Garner Decision

“What happened next is the matter we must address,” Commissioner O’Neill said.

During a struggle that threatened to send both men crashing through a glass window, Officer Pantaleo pressed his forearm against Mr. Garner’s neck. The chokehold, although not the preferred maneuver, was acceptable in the first brief moments of the struggle, Commissioner O’Neill explained. But the officer maintained the hold after he had the opportunity to use a “less lethal alternative,” Commissioner O’Neill said.

He said he himself might have done the same thing.

“And had I made those mistakes, I would have wished I had used the arrival of backup officers to give the situation more time to make the arrest,” he said. “And I would have wished that I had released my grip before it became a chokehold.”

In firing Officer Pantaleo, he also praised the rest of the department.

“Being a police officer is one of the hardest jobs in the world,” he said. “That is not a statement to elicit sympathy from those we serve. It is a fact. Cops have to make choices, sometimes very quickly, every single day. Some are split-second, life-and-death choices.”

Many of those decisions face scrutiny later, “both fairly and unfairly,” Commissioner O’Neill said.

He finished by calling for unity.

“We must move forward together as one city, determined to secure safety for all — safety for all New Yorkers and safety for every police officer working daily to protect all of us,” he said.

Even after the lengthy speech and questions from reporters, Commissioner O’Neill took to social media to send some final thoughts.

“We recruit from the human race,” he said on Twitter. “We’re not perfect. But, the next time you’re walking down the street and you feel safe, thank the N.Y.P.D.”