Public Safety & Justice Active Updated Aug 14, 2026
The first chokehold conviction
A Bronx jury convicted NYPD Officer Omar Habib of second-degree strangulation and using a banned chokehold on Lord Nyamaah during a 2023 arrest, the first conviction since the city outlawed chokeholds after Eric Garner's death. The case tests whether the six-year-old ban leads to real accountability, as the NYPD fired Habib and the Police Benevolent Association calls the verdict proof officers face constant risk of prosecution.
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Aug 14, 2026 Latest
A Bronx jury convicted NYPD Officer Omar Habib of second-degree strangulation and using a banned chokehold on Lord Nyamaah during a 2023 arrest, the first conviction under the city's post-George Floyd chokehold ban. Body-camera footage showed Habib holding the chokehold 20 to 22 seconds, long enough for Nyamaah to lose consciousness, and the NYPD fired Habib, whose record already included six prior lawsuits settled for $854,000. He was ordered held at Rikers Island until his Sept. 10 sentencing, facing up to seven years.
Gothamist 
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