New York choke hold man 'treated like a dog on the street'

A woman who filmed the moment Eric Garner was put into a 'choke hold' by a New York policeman has told ITV News he was treated "like a dog on the street".

Taisha Allen, who filmed the incident on her mobile phone in July, said she was "disgusted and hurt" that officer Daniel Pantaleo would not be facing charges over Garner's death.

It comes after a US Grand Jury decided not to charge Pantaleo, sparking protests across New York.

In the video footage, Garner, 43, who was unarmed and had asthma, can be heard gasping for breath and saying 'I can't breathe' after being but into a choke hold when he reportedly refused to allow officer Pantaleo to handcuff him.

Choke holds have been banned by NYPD official policy since 1993.

Ms Allen said: "He died at the hands of the NYPD."

Asked what she had thought as she filmed the incident, Ms Allen said: "That he needs some medical attention, that he needs help.

"I felt like they treated him like a dog on the street, like a savage and it wasn't right, it wasn't right at all".

After the Grand Jury's decision, Garner's wife Esaw told the media: "He shouldn't have been killed in that way, he shouldn't have been killed in anyway.

"He should be here celebrating Christmas and Thanksgiving and everything else with his children and his grandchildren and he can't. Why? Because a cop did wrong. Somebody that gets paid to do right did wrong."

US attorney general Eric Holder said the Justice Department was launching a federal civil rights investigation into Garner's death.