The secret disciplinary record of the NYPD officer who placed Eric Garner in a fatal chokehold reportedly has been revealed and shows he had a history of civilian complaints filed against him. NY1's Dean Meminger filed the following report.

This July will mark three years since Eric Garner was placed in a fatal chokehold by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo. 

On Tuesday, the officer's disciplinary record was revealed - not by the NYPD, but by the website ThinkProgress. It shows the Civilian Complaint Review Board had previously substantiated four complaints against Pantaleo.

"Am I surprised that leaked information shows that Daniel Pantaleo had a complete disregard for human life and was sort of charged with abuse from other people? Absolutely not," said Tina Luongo of the Legal Aid Society.

The record shows that before Pantaleo's tragic encounter with Garner, 14 allegations had been made to the CCRB against him arising from seven incidents. The four substantiated complaints came from two of those incidents, a vehicle stop-and-search in 2011 and an abusive stop-and-frisk in 2012. In that case, he lost two vacation days as punishment.

"You can't watch the video of Daniel Pantaleo killing Eric Garner without recognizing that that level of force comes from a pattern and practice of getting away with that with other people," Luongo said. 

Because of the secrecy surrounding  Daniel Pantaleo's disciplinary history, civil rights attorneys are currently suing the city. They are looking for the disciplinary history from officer from the last five years.

But Pantaleo's confidential disciplinary record was leaked just as attorneys for the Legal Aid Society and the city attended a court hearing on the case. The police union blasted the leak, which ThinkProgress said came from someone at the CCRB. The union says the release shows the CCRB is "not able to function in a fair or impartial manner."   

Meanwhile the U.S. Justice Department is still investigating whether to file federal civil rights charges against Pantaleo.

"If they do not press charges, then the NYPD would take over the disciplinary process and determine how to handle it from there," said Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Pantaleo remains in an NYPD desk job without his gun pending the outcome of those investigations.