STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Legal Aid Society is suing the Civilian Complaint Review Board to obtain the personnel records of the NYPD officer involved in Eric Garner's death.

The defense organization filed the suit in Supreme Court in Manhattan to force the board to release a summary of Daniel Pantaleo's employment history, including complaints, charges, and number of allegations brought against the officer.

The CCRB records would show civilian complaints of force, abuse of authority, discourtesy and offensive language, the suit says.

Pantaleo was the plainclothes officer seen in a viral video using an apparent chokehold to bring down Garner while trying to arrest him for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes. Garner, 43, died following the encounter with police July 17 in Tompkinsville.

Pantaleo was stripped of his badge and placed on desk duty after the incident. The Internal Affairs Bureau's investigation into the matter is still ongoing, police said.

The CCRB denied the Legal Aid's Society FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) request in December to release the information based on legal and privacy reasons. The group appealed the decision, and never received a response, the suit says.

"The existence of prior civilian complaints and prosecution is a matter of public concern," Legal Aid attorney Cynthia Conti-Cook writes in the suit. "This court should not interpret Civil Rights Law 50-a so broadly as to prohibit the CCRB from essentially answering whether Mr. Pantaleo was previously the subject of civilian complaints or prosecution."

The civil rights law cited in the suit prohibits disclosure of police officers' employment records based on confidentiality. However, the Legal Aid Society argues that Garner's entire arrest history was made public following his death.

The suit says Pantaleo's records could help evaluate the potential weaknesses associated with the city's police investigation and disciplinary system.

"Our city, still reeling from Mr. Garner's death and a general deterioration in police-community relations, needs to know whether the systems of police oversight, accountability and discipline in New York City failed to prevent Mr. Garner's death by failing to deter an officer with a history of excessive force," the suit says.

The parties are due in court on March 16.

The Legal Aid Society is also one of the parties seeking the release of the Garner grand jury records. The panel declined to indict Pantaleo in connection with Garner's death.