NYPD cop indicted on chokehold charge

A NYPD officer has been indicted on charges of using a chokehold in the course of a July 2023 arrest, the second time the 40-year-old cop has been accused of using the prohibited and lethal maneuver on a suspect.

Officer Omar Habib was arrested Thursday and arraigned before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Brenda Rivera on charges of second-degree strangulation, second-degree criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation, third-degree assault and unlawful methods of restraint, the office of Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said. Habib, assigned to the 47th Precinct in the north Bronx, was released on his own recognizance. 

The DA’s office said this is the first time a police officer has been indicted in the Bronx under a controversial city statute that makes it a misdemeanor for cops to use restraints that restrict breathing or the flow of blood. 

“The defendant allegedly violated his oath of office by employing a technique to subdue a suspect which is specifically prohibited under New York City law. Police officers must adhere to the law,” Clark said in a statement. 

The DA’s office said an investigation, including by officers from the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau, revealed that Habib, responding to a service call from an Eastchester Road catering hall, put a chokehold on a drunk and disorderly man who refused to be arrested. The maneuver “impeded the man’s breathing and circulation resulting in his temporary loss of consciousness,” Clark’s office said.

Habib has been suspended without pay, police said. His lawyer did not respond to a call or email seeking comment on his client’s indictment. 

Other use of force charges

In May 2019, the Civilian Complaint Review Board found that Habib used a chokehold on a 55-year-old resident of transitional housing in the South Bronx after having exchanged words with him in a building elevator in November 2017. The board also substantiated use of physical force and abuse of authority allegations against the officer in connection with the incident. 

He was sentenced to dismissal probation for 365 days. 

Habib’s contradictory testimony in a gun possession case — the judge overseeing the December 2018 trial implied that he had committed perjury — led to the acquittal of the prime suspect and to renegotiations of guilty pleas for the case’s two other suspects.  

Habib, a 17-year cop, has had several other allegations substantiated against him, including another complaint of physical force for taking a handcuffed prisoner into a bathroom and punching him. Allegations of verbal sexual harassment, of a retaliatory summons and discourtesy were also substantiated against the officer. 

The use of chokeholds by officers has been prohibited in most cases by the NYPD since 1993. 

But the City Council in 2020 passed additional prohibitions on maneuvers sometimes employed by police officers to subdue a suspect. The so-called diaphragm bill — under which Habib was indicted — makes it a misdemeanor for officers to use restraints that restrict the flow of air or blood “by compressing the windpipe or the carotid arteries on each side of the neck, or sitting, kneeling, or standing on the chest or back in a manner that compresses the diaphragm.” 

Enacted by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio in July 2020 over pronounced opposition from the NYPD and law-enforcement unions, the legislation was challenged numerous times by police unions, including on the grounds that it conflicted with a similar state law and that it was overly vague. 

In November, the New York Court of Appeals, in a unanimous decision, ruled that the law's language is clear enough. But the court’s decision noted that for officers to be found criminally liable, they must have applied the banned maneuver voluntarily, "not accidentally," and that "such conduct must fall outside the parameters of justifiable use of physical force."

Conviction brings the possibility of a 1-year jail term and a $2,500 fine, or both. 

The Police Benevolent Association’s president, Patrick Hendry, said the accusations against Habid are just that and that the office should be afforded the opportunity to argue his innocence. 

“Like anyone else, criminally accused police officers are presumed innocent until proven guilty and are entitled to due process and a fair hearing on the facts and the law.”

Habib is due back in court Oct. 15.

richardk@thechiefleader.com

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