A Bronx cop was discovered responsible Thursday of strangulation and utilizing a prohibited chokehold — the primary time an NYPD officer has been convicted underneath the town’s post-George Floyd ban of the restraint tactic, the district legal professional’s workplace mentioned.
Officer Omar Habib – who had been on the job since 2007 – was fired from the ranks after a jury convicted him of wrapping his arms round an arrested man’s neck, inflicting him to lose consciousness, on July 28, 2023, in accordance with authorities and prosecutors.
He was discovered responsible of second-degree strangulation – a violent felony that would land him in jail for 7 years – along with third-degree assault and illegal strategies of restraint, in accordance with the Bronx District Legal professional’s Workplace.
This marks the primary time an NYPD cop was convicted underneath the third cost — a misdemeanor that falls underneath New York Metropolis Statute 10-181, making chokehold use by cops unlawful.
The reform was sparked by George Floyd’s police-involved loss of life in Minneapolis in 2020.
Habib and different officers had been making an attempt to arrest Lord Nymaah, who bought right into a struggle at an Eastchester Highway catering corridor get together and commenced punching the lavatory mirrors, Assistant District Legal professional Michael Naughton mentioned at trial, in accordance with Gothamist.
Nymaah was “drunk and disorderly and refused to be positioned underneath arrest,” Bronx prosecutors mentioned.
Habib, who was assigned to the forty seventh Precinct, then allegedly positioned Nymaah “in a chokehold so tightly, it impeded the person’s respiratory and circulation, leading to his short-term lack of consciousness,” prosecutors mentioned.
The officer’s protection legal professional, Jacob Weinstein, argued that proof doesn’t point out Nymaah misplaced consciousness due to Habib’s actions, Gothamist reported.
And if that was the case, the officer by no means meant that end result, in accordance with the legal professional – who contended his shopper “did precisely what he ought to have achieved” in the course of the tense ordeal.
Following the incident, Habib was reassigned to the PSA 5 Viper unit, overseeing surveillance footage in NYCHA complexes, on-line information present.
However as of Wednesday, he was formally dismissed from the division, the NYPD confirmed.
“Instantly following the incident, members of the Inner Affairs Bureau responded, initiated an investigation, and referred the incident to the Bronx District Legal professional’s Workplace,” the division mentioned. “Upon prison conviction of a felony, a uniformed member of the service will vacate their civil service title and be terminated as a matter of legislation.”
Patrick Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Affiliation, blasted the choice.
“This verdict is simply additional proof of a grim actuality: each second cops spend on this job places them liable to prison prosecution, and pervasive anti-police propaganda has made it extremely tough to obtain a good trial based mostly on nothing however the information and the legislation,” the union head mentioned in an announcement.
“Whereas this police officer selected to retain his personal counsel from the outset of the case, we are going to proceed to assist him as he appeals this resolution.”
Habib – who was initially indicted within the case in September of 2024 – was ordered held on Rikers Island till his subsequent courtroom date on September 10, for protection motions.
