Not only will there be zero criminal charges for the New York City police officer who choked Eric Garner; Daniel Pantaleo won’t have to pay anything if Eric Garner’s family wins a civil case suing for wrongful death damages, either. This from Jaeah Lee at Mother Jones:

The $75 million worth of claims include wrongful death, assault, pain and suffering, and negligent hiring and training by the NYPD. But if the city decides to settle the case with the Garner family, a spokesperson for the comptroller told Mother Jones, Pantaleo will pay nothing.

Instead, taxpayers will shoulder the cost. Between 2006 and 2011, New York City paid out $348 million in settlements or judgments in cases pertaining to civil rights violations by police, according to a UCLA study published in June 2014. Those nearly 7,000 misconduct cases included allegations of excessive use of force, sexual assault, unreasonable searches, and false arrests. More than 99 percent of the payouts came from the city's municipal budget, which has a line item dedicated to settlements and judgments each year. (The city did require police to pay a tiny fraction of the total damages, with officers personally contributing in less than 1 percent of the cases for a total of $114,000.)

According to the author of that UCLA study, this practice is common for police departments all across the country.

Translation: If you pay taxes, you could be paying for the damages inflicted by cops toward… you. Read more here.