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De Blasio: Justice Department Not Dragging Its Feet With Eric Garner Case

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio doesn't believe the Justice Department is dragging its feet over the Eric Garner case.

The mayor told 1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch reassured him it is a top priority, but it is a complicated case as the feds meticulously go over the evidence.

"No one is dragging their feet and we have to make sure the resolution afterwards is fair and just," de Blasio said.

Garner died two years ago in the Tompkinsville section of Staten Island, as police tried to arrest him for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. One officer, Daniel Pantaleo, used a takedown move that many have described as a chokehold.

Garner told officers "I can't breathe" as he was being arrested.

"The real issue in preventing these tragedies is working to make sure they don't happen again in the future," de Blasio told 1010 WINS.

Crowds of supporters joined friends and family at the New Hope Church in Elizabeth, New Jersey, to pay tribute to the 43-year-old father of six who died two years ago Sunday.

There was also a solemn march to Garner's gravesite in Linden.

The Justice Department will decide if federal civil rights charges should be brought against the officers who allegedly used a chokehold. No police officer was ever indicted in Garner's death.

The city paid the Garner family nearly $6 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit.

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