Details in a Wikipedia article about Eric Garner have been altered by computers inside the New York Police Department headquaters in Manhattan.
According to Time, the Wikipedia account of the incident between police officers and Garner was changed in several places. The word “chokehold” was replaced once with “chokehold or headlock” and once with “respiratory distress.”
A line on the Eric Garner wikipedia page that read, “Garner raised both his arms in the air” was changed to “Garner flailed his arms about as he spoke.”
The alterations were made from an IP address that traces back to the NYPD headquater’s network.
This is not the first time that instances of police brutality have been changed from the same IP addess. In 2007 a user on 1 Police Plaza’s network tried to delete an entry about Sean Bell, the unarmed Black man that was killed by undercover NYPD officers in 2006.
There were also changes made to the page about Amadou Diallo who was shot and killed when police mistook his wallet for a gun in 1999.
An NYPD spokesperson says the incident is being investigated. “The matter is under internal review,” says Det. Cheryl Crispin.