The $5.9-million (5.3-million-euro) settlement with Garner's family was "in the best interest of all parties," New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer said on Monday. "I believe that we have reached an agreement that acknowledges the tragic nature of Mr. Garner's death while balancing my office's fiscal responsibility to the City."

Garner was stopped outside a convenience store on July 17, 2014 for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. A video by an eye witness showed Garner telling the officers to leave him alone and refusing to be handcuffed.

He was then seized by the neck and was heard to be saying "I can't breathe!" 11 times before he lost consciousness. He was dead by the time he was taken to a hospital.

Medical examinations found the chokehold to be the reason for Garner's death and termed it a "homicide," but a grand jury on Staten Island refused to indict the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, who executed it. A federal probe was going on in the case.

Garner's case was one of several that sparked a debate about the treatment of minorities by the police in the US. His death and that of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri last August incited countrywide protests over police atrocities against African-Americans.

mg/cmk (AP, Reuters)