Eric Garner's family has rejected a $5 million settlement from New York City, say sources close to ongoing negotiations between Controller Scott Stringer and the family of the Staten Island, N.Y., man killed by an NYPD cop, reports the New York Daily News.
The Garner family's attorney, Jonathan Moore, is reported to be urging the family to accept the $5 million and then seek more money through a separate lawsuit against EMTs from Richmond University Medical Center, according to CBS New York. EMTs from Richmond University Medical Center were captured on video failing to give Garner, 43, medical treatment - neither oxygen nor CPR - as he died at their feet on July 17, 2014.
A statute of limitations requires the family file a wrongful death lawsuit on Friday, and negotiations are expected to continue until then. The family has said it intends to sue the city for $75 million over the death of Garner, reports The Independent.
The $5 million offer by New York City would have been one of the largest wrongful death settlements stemming from a killing by NYPD cops.
All the parties involved in the procedure, the Garner family's attorney, Jonathan Moore, Garner's widow, Esaw Garner, and a spokesman for Controller Scott Stringer, refused to comment on the issue. But last week Esaw Garner told the Daily News that she was disgusted by the U.S. justice system.
"It seems like because they didn't prosecute the officers on Staten Island, all the other officers were like, 'Hell. We'll get away with it. Let's just do it again,'" she said while reflecting on the recent wave of police killings of unarmed black men across the country.
A Staten Island grand jury had opted not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo last year, triggering protests around the country.
