The city agency that investigates cases of police brutality faced the public for the first time since taking a controversial vote on the Eric Garner case.  As NY1's Lisa Voyticki reports, the meeting was held in Stapleton, not far from where the incident happened. ​

The Civilian Complaint Review Board met Wednesday at I.S. 49 in Stapleton in its first public board meeting since ruling NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo put Eric Garner in a fatal chokehold.  

"We're really happy to be here in the community," said Deborah Archer, acting chairwoman of the CCRB, upon starting the meeting.

It was the first community board meeting for Archer.  

Sources tell NY1 the former chair, Maya Wiley, was pushed out by the city after the board took the controversial vote last month.

The vote was the first time the city admitted Pantaleo used a banned procedure and improper force, ultimately recommending the NYPD discipline Pantaleo.  

NY1 asked the CCRB's executive director about whether Garner's case was part of the 37 percent of cases it closed in August.

"We can't comment on that because of 50-a of the civil service law," said Jonathan Darche, executive director of the CCRB. He says a civil rights law prevents the city from disclosing officers' discplinary records.

No one from the public pressed the board on the Garner vote, but it was mentioned once.

"We need to address the racism. We need to address that," said Imam Zulwarnain Abdu-Shahid of the Bait-ul Jamaat - House of Community in Tompkinsville. "Because until we do, we'll have Eric Garner's murderers saying, 'Oh well, you did not substantiate it.'" 

While the board has substantiated that Pantaleo's actions killed Garner, it does not mean he will be disciplined by the NYPD.  

The Department of Justice is still investigating to see if it will bring federal civil rights charges, and the NYPD is holding off on a departmental trial until the feds make a decision.  

More than three years after Garner's death, many who spoke said their biggest concern is racial tensions.

"I've been living here for 10 years, and this is the first borough I've ever lived in that I feel like there's no help with the community, not only with the community, but with the police," said Shawnell Matthews, a borough resident who said her son was murdered in June, but did not specify the circumstances.  

The next public board meeting is scheduled for October 11 at 6:30 p.m. at 100 Church Street, 10th floor in Manhattan.