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A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC. Gothamist Listen Live Donate News First NYPD officer convicted under city’s ban on police chokeholds By Samantha Max Published Aug 13, 2026 at 2:39 p.m. ET
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A Bronx jury convicted NYPD Officer Omar Habib of second-degree strangulation, third-degree assault and using an unlawful method of restraint on Thursday, after more than two days of deliberations.
Habib is the first NYPD officer prosecuted under a post-George Floyd law that made it illegal for New York City police to use chokeholds. He faces up to seven years in prison on the most serious charge.
An NYPD spokesperson said internal affairs referred the case to the Bronx district attorney’s office and that Habib’s employment with the department would be terminated. Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said the union would support him as he appeals his decision.
“This verdict is just further 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 based on nothing but the facts and the law,” he said.
The case stems from an arrest in the back of an ambulance outside a catering hall on Eastchester Road in the Bronx in July 2023. Habib and other officers were attempting to arrest a man named Lord Nyamaah, who drank too much at a party, got in a fight and punched the mirrors in the bathroom, Assistant District Attorney Michael Naughton said at trial. Habib and several other officers crowded into the back of an ambulance where Nyamaah was being treated for cuts to his hand, according to Naughton and body camera footage played at trial.
As Habib and the other officers tried to handcuff Nyamaah and arrest him for criminal mischief, Habib wrapped his arm around the man’s neck, squeezing so tight that the veins in his bicep pulsed and Nyamaah lost consciousness, according to the DA’s office. Naughton said during opening statements that the chokehold was “unprovoked,” “unnecessary” and “unjustified.” He said NYPD training and policies make it clear the tactic is not allowed.
Dr. Priyanka Datta, who reviewed footage of the incident, testified at trial that the chokehold lasted 20 to 22 seconds. She said it takes seven seconds of continuous pressure to the neck for someone to lose consciousness.
Habib’s defense attorney, Jacob Weinstein, said in his opening statement there was no evidence that Nyamaah actually passed out due to the officer’s actions. Even if he did, the attorney said, that wasn’t Habib’s intent.
Weinstein said the officer “did exactly what he should have done” under difficult circumstances. He also criticized prosecutors for saying the NYPD’s policy on chokeholds is easy to follow.
“That’s armchair psychology,” he said. “It’s ridiculous.”
NYPD Lt. Morgan Courgnaud, a supervisor at the department’s training academy, told jurors about the various trainings Habib should have gone through and policies he should have studied that explicitly ban chokeholds, including an instructional video training records show he watched about a year before the incident.
Fellow officers who were with Habib the night he used the chokehold also testified at trial that they knew the tactic violated NYPD policy. They said they spoke with a union representative when they got back to the precinct and had planned to report Habib’s actions until they found out that he had already notified a supervisor himself.
As Habib left the scene, his body-worn camera recorded him asking himself, “ What’d you do, bro ,” and saying, “I’m done.” The footage was played in court.
The NYPD put Habib on probation several years ago after he was caught on camera putting another person in a chokehold. He has also been disciplined in other cases for using excessive force and making offensive comments, according to police watchdog records.
This story has been updated with comment from the NYPD and the Police Benevolent Association.
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
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