An NYPD officer has been charged with strangulation after allegedly using an illegal chokehold during an arrest in Queens last week, authorities said Thursday. David Afanador, 39, was charged with strangulation and attempted strangulation for the Sunday confrontation on the boardwalk at Rockaway Beach caught on video. The officer, who was suspended without pay immediately after the incident, is the first NYPD officer to be charged under the new chokehold ban Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed earlier this month. The video showed Afanador placing 35-year-old Ricky Bellevue in an illegal chokehold. Bodycam footage showed that, before the arrest, three men were shouting insults at the police and arguing with them. Bellevue then picked something out of a trash can, possibly intending to throw it at the cops.
