Man Who Recorded Killing of Eric Garner Is Released From Prison

After being sentenced to four years of prison, Ramsey Orta is released early due to COVID-19.

The man who recorded Eric Garner’s last words, “I Can’t Breathe,” was released from prison on May 28 from Queensboro Correctional Facility.

In 2014, Ramsey Orta took a video of police arresting Garner near the Staten Island Ferry terminal, where they accused him of selling loose cigarettes. The officer, Daniel Pantaleo put his arm around Garner’s neck and wrestled him to the ground, while other officers pinned him down. Garner repeatedly told the officers he couldn’t breathe and died soon after. The words “I Can’t Breathe,” recorded by Orta became a rallying cry for protestors fighting against police brutality. It sparked a wave of protests and police inquiries. 

Two years later, Orta was sentenced to prison for drug charges and possession of a weapon while the officer who killed Garner was fired until 2019—but was never prosecuted. 

Orta has claimed that he has been a target for correctional officers as a result of filming Garner’s death. In 2015, he filed a lawsuit claiming that rat poison was put in his food during his time at Rikers Island, according to Rolling Stone. 

“The cops had been following me every day since Eric died, shining lights in my house every night. You think I’m walking around with a stolen gun that now they say wasn’t even loaded?” he told The Verge during an interview in 2019 

His prison sentence is officially over on July 11, but was released early due to coronavirus. Orta is one of nearly 900 inmates who have transitioned into the community in light of the pandemic. His name resurfaced during the worldwide protests led by the Black Lives Matter movement after the killing of George Floyd. 

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