“No sum of money can make this family whole, but hopefully the Garner family can find some peace and finality from today’s settlement,” Mayor de Blasio said in a statement.

From New York, to Connecticut, to California, marchers are scheduled to hit the streets Friday in a call for justice, according to a news release from Stop Mass Incarceration. On July 17, 2014, Garner died when NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo placed him in a chokehold and refused to relent, even as the 43-year-old gasped, repeatedly, “I can’t breathe”. Coupled with police killings of unarmed black men elsewhere in recent months, Garner’s death became a flashpoint in a national debate about relations between police and minority communities.

After the state grand jury declined to indict, then-US Attorney General Eric Holder in December promised a full investigation into Garner’s death.

A record-breaking settlement of $5.9 million from the city of New York to the widow of a man who died after resisting arrest last June had police union bosses flabbergasted – calling the payout “obscene”.

The police were trying to arrest Garner for the alleged crime of selling untaxed cigarettes.

“We are all familiar with the events that led to the death of Eric Garner and the extraordinary impact his passing has had on our City and our nation. Right now, we are doing everything to move this city forward”, he said.

In the past, such meals might have raised concerns about officers crossing ethical line by taking gifts from the people they are expected to police.

“We did not march and build a movement just to get money”, he said.

Let’s hope they’re right and Mr. Garner’s death brings about needed reform in the routinely discriminatory, deadly policing of Black Americans. At that time, he connected personally to Garner’s death, speaking of how he talked to his biracial son about being careful in his dealings with police.

Soon after, many members of the NYPD turned their backs on the mayor at the funerals of Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.

Erica Garner and Emerald Snipes-Garner spoke, and each of them expressed the sadness of their lives without their father.

De Blasio made sure to be inclusive in his remarks on Tuesday. He invoked the phrase “blue lives matter”, a phrase police adopted in reaction to the “black lives matter” campaign launched previous year by police critics. Commissioner William Bratton initiated new training on communication with the public and de-escalating confrontations, and promised a return to a community policing model.

Under the New York City Charter, the comptroller has the authority to settle any claims against the City.