A New York Police Department officer who allegedly used an illegal chokehold while arresting a Black man in Queens has been suspended without pay after a video of the incident circulated on social media, according to NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea. The incident comes only days after New York legislature banned the use of chokeholds by police. The NYPD released body camera footage prior to announcing the arresting officer’s suspension. Lori Zeno, executive director of the firm representing the victim, Queens Defenders, said that the man was rendered unconscious by the officer’s chokehold and received a head injury. He is being treated at a hospital in Queens, Zeno said. “He was on such a hard chokehold that he couldn’t speak to say he couldn’t breathe,” Zeno said. Zeno identified one officer involved in the incident as David Afanador, though the video shows three officers on top of the man.
