Queens grand jury declines to indict NYPD cop for
using illegal chokehold in Rockaway Beach arrest
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | SEPT. 24 - SEPT. 30, 2021 5
BY BILL PARRY
A Queens grand jury has
cleared a former NYPD officer
for using an illegal chokehold
on a suspect in Rockaway
Beach in June 2020.
Queens District Attorney
Melinda Katz announced
Tuesday, Sept. 14, that the
grand jury considering
charges against former Police
Officer David Afanador
“has found no true bill and
declined to indict.”
Afanador had faced
charges of strangulation and
attempted strangulation for
an incident that occurred
on the Rockaway boardwalk
just before 9 a.m. on Sunday,
June 21, during the arrest of
Ricky Bellevue, a 35-year-old
Black man. The incident began
when three men began
to get into a verbal altercation
with at least four police
officers, NYPD body cam
footage showed. At one point
during the dispute, Bellevue
appeared to reach inside of
a trash can, at which point
several officers tackled him
to the ground, the video
showed.
While being cuffed, Afanador
appeared to wrap his
arm around Bellevue’s neck
in an alleged chokehold.
“He’s choking him,” someone
could be heard yelling offcamera.
Bellevue was seen going
limp as he lost consciousness
under Afanador’s maneuver,
the DA said. Afanador eventually
pulled his arm from
around Bellevue’s neck after
another officer tapped him
on his shoulder.
The entire episode was
caught on camera by a passerby
and shared widely online.
After the video went
viral, the NYPD released an
officer’s body cam footage of
the incident and suspended
Afanador without pay by
nightfall the same day.
Afanador turned himself
in at the Queens district attorney’s
office in Kew Gardens
and was arraigned before
Queens Criminal Court
Judge Danielle Hartman on
Thursday, June 25.
Afanador became the first
NYPD officer to be charged
under New York State’s Eric
Garner Anti-Chokehold Act,
legislation sponsored by now-
Lieutenant Governor Brian
Benjamin, and signed into law
by Governor Andrew Cuomo
just one week earlier.
The new law made the use
of a chokehold by a police officer
a felony, and Afanador —
who has since resigned from
the NYPD — faced up to seven
years in jail under the law.
Afanador testified before
the Queens grand jury behind
closed doors, but in a statement,
Katz said she would seek
to have a transcript of the testimony
released to the public.
“While the law prohibits
me from discussing the proceedings
that took place in
front of the grand jury, in the
interest of transparency I am
moving to have the minutes of
the grand jury unsealed,” Katz
said.
Screenshot via NYPD/YouTube
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