Ramsey Orta, the man who filmed New York City Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo applying a fatal chokehold to Eric Garner on July 17, was indicted by a grand jury in Staten Island, New York.

However, the Staten Island grand jury chose not to indict Officer Pantaleo who violated NYPD rules by using a chokehold on Garner, resulting in his death, reports The Washington Post.

According to the Staten Island Advance, Orta was indicted on weapons charges after an arrest on Aug. 2 in the St. George neighborhood of Staten Island.

ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website

Orta claimed that the charges were retaliation for his filming the Garner incident.

"They lying on me, they doing me wrong," said Orta after he pleaded not guilty in August, noted the New York Daily News. "I've been harassed by the police since this whole video."

Orta's mother told CBS New York that police had been following her son ever since he filmed Garner's death (video below).



The NYPD claimed that Orta and Alba Lekaj entered a Staten Island hotel that is "a known drug-prone location."

Moments later, Orta and Lekaj walked out of the hotel and were approached by police.

"Officers, in plain clothes with their shields displayed, approached the two individuals to question them when they observed [Orta] slip an object into the waistband of [Lekaj]," the NYPD said in court papers.

ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website

ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website

"Officers immediately took control of the two and observed, in plain sight, a gun in the waistband of [Lekaj]. The two were placed under arrest and an unloaded .25 caliber Norton handgun was recovered," added the NYPD.

"When they searched me, they didn't find nothing on me," Orta told the Staten Island Advance in August. "And the same cop that searched me, he told me clearly himself that karma's a bitch, what goes around comes around. I had nothing to do with this. I would be stupid to walk around with a gun after me being in the spotlight."

Orta was also charged in December of 2013 for disorderly conduct.

Sources: Staten Island Advance, New York Daily News, The Washington Post, CBS New York

undefined