Officer Omar Habib became the first NYPD cop convicted under the city’s post-George Floyd chokehold ban.
Habib, 40, was found guilty Thursday in Bronx Supreme Court of second-degree strangulation, third-degree assault, and unlawful methods of restraint, according to the Bronx District Attorney’s Office. The officer, who joined the NYPD in January 2007 and was assigned to the 47th Precinct, was fired from the department following the felony conviction. He was ordered held on Rikers Island until his next court date for defense motions.
The incident occurred on July 28, 2023, at a catering hall on Eastchester Road in the Bronx. Habib and other officers were attempting to arrest Lord Nymaah, who had gotten into a fight at a party and began punching bathroom mirrors, Assistant District Attorney Michael Naughton said at trial. Nymaah was “drunk and disorderly and refused to be placed under arrest,” according to Bronx prosecutors.
During the struggle, Habib placed Nymaah in a chokehold so tight that it “impeded the man’s breathing and circulation, resulting in his temporary loss of consciousness,” the district attorney’s office said. The body camera footage showed Habib and other officers tussling with Nymaah in the back of an ambulance after he was told he would be arrested following hospital treatment for injuries from the fight.
“He choked me,” Nymaah said of Habib during the trial, according to the Daily News. “He had me cuffed behind my back,” Nymaah continued, “He grabbed my neck.”
The officer’s body camera captured Habib’s own words in the patrol car after the incident. “What’d you do, bro?” He asked himself, according to prosecutors and footage played in court. He also uttered, “I’m done,” as the camera continued recording while he drove away from the scene.
Habib’s defense attorney, Jacob Weinstein, argued that evidence did not indicate Nymaah lost consciousness because of Habib’s actions, Gothamist reported. And if that was the case, the officer never intended that outcome, according to the attorney, who contended his client “did exactly what he should have done” during the tense ordeal.
The conviction marks the first time an NYPD officer was found guilty under New York City Statute 10-181, the 2020 local law that made chokehold use by police officers illegal. The reform was sparked by George Floyd’s police-involved death in Minneapolis in 2020, which galvanized nationwide protests against police brutality and led to renewed scrutiny of restraint tactics.
Following the 2023 incident, Habib was reassigned to the PSA 5 Viper unit, overseeing surveillance footage in NYCHA complexes, according to online records. He was initially indicted in September 2024 and pleaded not guilty to charges including strangulation, criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation, assault, and using an unlawful method of restraint.
The NYPD confirmed Habib was officially dismissed from the department as of Wednesday. “Immediately following the incident, members of the Internal Affairs Bureau responded, initiated an investigation, and referred the incident to the Bronx District Attorney’s Office,” the department said in a statement. “Upon criminal conviction of a felony, a uniformed member of the service will vacate their civil service title and be terminated as a matter of law.”
Patrick Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Association, blasted the verdict. “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,” the union head said in a statement. Hendry added that while Habib chose to retain his own counsel from the outset, “we will continue to support him as he appeals this decision.”
In the viral moment that preceded this landmark conviction, body camera footage showed the chaotic scene inside the ambulance as officers attempted to restrain Nymaah. The video captured the moment Habib allegedly applied the chokehold, though the exact positioning was partially obscured by the camera angle. Other officers’ body cameras from different perspectives were expected to be played at trial. After Nymaah was handcuffed, police could be heard telling him to get up, but he did not move right away, having temporarily lost consciousness from the restraint.
Habib was ordered held on Rikers Island until his next court date on September 10 for defense motions.