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NEW YORK — <\/span>A New York City police officer who was the first prosecuted under a local law banning chokeholds and some other methods of restraint was convicted Thursday.<\/p>\n Omar Habib<\/a> was convicted of the misdemeanor established in the law that was passed after George Floyd<\/a> ‘s killing, along with felony strangulation and misdemeanor assault, and is facing up to seven years in prison, news outlets reported. <\/p>\n Habib has also been dismissed from the New York Police Department. He had previously been suspended without pay.<\/p>\n Bronx Criminal Supreme Court Judge Cynthia Isales ordered him held without bail, according to the New York Daily News.<\/p>\n Habib, who joined the department in 2007, was responding to a 911 call at a Bronx catering hall in 2023 when a drunk and disorderly man resisted arrest, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said. Habib placed the man in a chokehold so tight it impeded his breathing and circulation and made him pass out, according to the district attorney.<\/p>\n Jacob Z. Weinstein, Habib\u2019s attorney, argued during the trial that other factors could have caused the man to pass out, including drinking without eating enough food.<\/p>\n Patrick Hendry, president of a New York police union, said the verdict was \u201cfurther proof of a grim reality: every second police officers spend on this job puts them at risk of criminal prosecution, and pervasive anti-police propaganda has made it incredibly difficult to receive a fair trial,\u201d according to the New York Daily News.<\/p>\n Habib was charged under a 2020 city law passed after Floyd\u2019s death that makes it a crime for police officers to use chokeholds or sit, kneel, or stand on someone\u2019s torso during an arrest.<\/p>\n The law was challenged by police unions but was upheld in 2023<\/a> by New York state\u2019s highest court.<\/p>\n Police use of chokeholds was already banned in most cases by NYPD regulations at the time the law was enacted, but officers who used them were rarely prosecuted.<\/p>\n A police officer accused of using a prohibited chokehold on Eric Garner, who died during an arrest in 2014<\/a>, lost his job with the city but faced no criminal charges. <\/p>\n Before his recent arrest, Habib had a history of substantiated misconduct complaints about excessive force and abusing his authority. He was previously cited by the department for using a chokehold in 2017, an incident that was later the subject of news stories<\/a> about officers continuing to use banned restraints. <\/p>\n Habib was also accused of lying under oath<\/a> and tampering with evidence<\/a> in a 2016 gun raid, prompting several defendants to withdraw their guilty pleas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n