The Staten Island district attorney who chose not to indict the NYPD officer who fatally choked Eric Garner has won the congressional seat left open by Michael Grimm via special election. The former Republican congressman resigned after pleading guilty to tax evasion charges last year.
The New York Daily News reports that Daniel Donovan won 60 percent of the vote, while his opponent, City Councilman and Democrat Vincent Gentile, garnered 38 percent of the vote. It's been suggested that the 58-year-old Donovan chose not to charge Officer Daniel Pantaleo with lesser offenses such as reckless endangerment—which would've presented a stronger possibility for conviction—due to his political aspirations. But Politico notes that Garner's death was never brought up during Donovan and Gentile's race:
The grand jury’s decision not to indict the police officers involved in Garner’s death ignited protests across the country, and some national Republicans worried that Donovan’s candidacy might turn the special election into a headache for the party.
But Garner’s death — video captured by a bystander showed officers placing Garner in a chokehold — never emerged as an issue in the race. A poll commissioned shortly after Grimm’s resignation by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee showed that 58 percent of likely voters in the district approved of Donovan’s handling of the case, and Gentile didn’t press the issue in a district home to a substantial share of New York City’s police officers.
[via New York Daily News and Politico]
