The man who recorded video of Eric Garner's chokehold death during his 2014 arrest in Staten Island has been charged with gun possessi...
The man who recorded video of Eric Garner's chokehold death during his 2014 arrest in Staten Island has been charged with gun possession, just four months after regaining his freedom.
Ramsey Orta, 29, was arrested early Monday morning during a traffic stop in the Willamsburg section of Brooklyn.
According to police, Orta was pulled over at the intersection of South 2nd and Roebling streets at around 2am for driving with overly tinted windows in his car.
Ramsay Orta (left), 29, a friend of Eric Garner (right) who filmed his death during his arrest in 2014, was arrested on Monday on gun charges
When police looked inside Orta's vehicle, they allegedly spotted drugs, reported New York Post.
Officers then asked the driver to step out of the car and searched him, allegedly discovering a 9mm handgun tucked into his waistband.
As a convicted felon with a criminal record that includes more than 30 arrests, Orta is not permitted to possess a gun.
He was arrested on firearms charges. He was also wanted for questioning in connection to a domestic violence case, according to the New York Daily News.
In 2015, Orta was caught in the act by police selling crack, oxycodone, marijuana and heroin in the Staten Island park across the street from where Garner died. He was also arrested in a separate incident after being caught with a gun.
Orta was released from prison on May 28 after serving a four-year sentence for drug and gun convictions.
He was let out of the Franklin Correctional Facility near the Canadian border six weeks early amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Garner, a father of six, was put in a chokehold by officer Daniel Pantaleo. This video shows cops tending to him after he stopped breathing
Orta, pictured with Reverend Al Sharpton during the funeral service for Garner, has claimed his many arrests were in retaliation for filming Garner's death
The 29-year-old has claimed his many arrests were in retaliation for filming the moment his friend, Garner, repeated 'I can't breathe' 11 times while in a chokehold on July 17, 2014 by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo.
'The cops had been following me every day since Eric died, shining lights in my house every night,' he told The Verge in 2018.
Orta's video showed Pantaleo taking Garner to the ground after he and another officer confronted him over suspicions he was selling loose, untaxed cigarettes outside a Staten Island convenience store.
Orta was released from prison on May 28, after serving a four-year sentence for drug and gun convictions. He was let out of prison near the Canadian border six weeks early amid the coronavirus outbreak
Before Pantaleo grabbed him, Garner is seen on video arguing with the officers, protesting what he considered constant harassment.
The footage sparked outrage and nationwide protests against police brutality.
In December 2014, a Staten Island grand jury refused to indict Pantaleo on criminal charges in Garner's death. He was fired from the force in August 2019.
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