The white New York City cop who wasn't indicted in the choke-hold death of Eric Garner was sued previously for other misconduct cases on the job.
Daniel Pantaleo, 29, was accused of misconduct when he recently wrestled Garner, 43, to the ground using an illegal - and deathly - chokehold. Garner was stopped by Pantaleo for selling untaxed cigarettes.
This was not the first time Pantaleo used misconduct on the job, according to a USA Today report.
In 2013 Darren Collins and Tommy Rice claimed in a federal lawsuit that Pantaleo was among four officers who subjected them to "humiliating and unlawful strip searches in public view" after handcuffing them during an arrest. The charges were dismissed and the case was settled.
Pantaleo was also accused separately by Rylawn Walker for falsely arresting him on marijuana charges in February 2012. The case is still pending although the marijuana charges were already dropped.
"To put it mildly, many police on Staten Island have been playing fast, loose and violently with the public they seem to have forgotten they are sworn to protect," Michael Colihan, Walker's defense lawyer, wrote to U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos in August 2014. "After litigating about 200 of these civil rights matters in the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York since 1977, I have seen no interest by the managers of the New York City Police Department, or anyone employed by the city of New York, in doing anything to stop this."
Additionally, Pantaleo was among other officers in a misconduct case where Kenneth Collins, 22, like Walker, was falsely arrested for marijuana possession. Collins claimed he "was subjected to a degrading search of his private parts and genitals by the defendants," the court complaint charged.
