A police union lawyer said a Staten Island grand jury could vote as early as Wednesday on whether to bring charges in the case of Eric Garner, whose death in July from a police chokehold prompted protests and set off a citywide debate over policing tactics.

The death of Mr. Garner, who was black, inflamed tensions between the New York Police Department and minority communities. Less than three weeks later, a white police officer fatally shot an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Mo. Months of demonstrations followed, and last week riots broke in Ferguson and across the country after a grand jury declined to indict the officer.

In the Garner case, Stuart London, the lawyer representing Officer Daniel Pantaleo, said late on Tuesday that the Staten Island district attorney, Daniel M. Donovan Jr., had not told him when the grand jury would vote on an indictment, but that it would quite likely come this week, possibly as early as Wednesday.

The grand jury is meeting again at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

Officer Pantaleo was the last to testify and is the only officer facing indictment, Mr. London said. The other officers involved in the arrest had been given immunity, he said.