A Staten Island grand jury voted on Wednesday not to bring criminal charges against the New York City police officer at the center of the Eric Garner case.

Jonathon Moore, an attorney for the victim's family said he is "astonished by the decision."

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was due to go the Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Plaza this evening, but announced he is no longer attending and going instead to Staten Island to meet with elected officials, clergy members and community organizers.

The decision was reached after the grand jury, convened in September, heard months of testimony including from police officer Daniel Panteleo. Other police officers, including two sergeants, were given immunity in exchange for their testimony. The jury was comprised of 23 people, 14 who were white, nine non-white and five African Americans, according to NBC.

Garner, a father of six, was stopped on suspicion of selling loose cigarettes on July 19. The Staten Island man is shown on video telling officers to leave him alone before white Officer Pantaleo used what appeared to be a banned chokehold. Other officers arrived at the incident and Garner is heard repeating eleven times "I can't breathe, I can't breathe."

"How can anyone in the community have faith in the system now? First Ferguson, now Staten Island. The Grand Jury's failure to indict sends the clear message that Black lives don't matter. But they do. It's bad enough that broken windows policing over something as harmless as selling untaxed cigarettes led to this tragic killing; it's even worse when the officer responsible - who was caught on tape using a prohibited choke hold, no less - is not held accountable," said Vincent Warren, executive director for The Center for Constitutional Rights, in a released statement.

"The problem isn't one officer, though: it's systemic. We need real reform of discredited broken windows policing and of the NYPD more than ever. With the court-ordered joint reform process in our class action stop-and-frisk case Floyd v. City of New York finally getting underway, we have that opportunity," Warren added.

The decision comes just over a week since the St. Louis County grand jury voted not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. That decision led to a week of protests nationwide, one of which turned violent, leading to arson, damage to property and looting in Ferguson.

In August, when Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan first announced appointing the grand jury, Ramon Jimenez, attorney and long-time activist in the South Bronx, spoke to Latin Post regarding the case and said he was wary of the job the Staten Island district attorney would do.

"I don't trust this case in the hands of Dan Donovan. Dan Donovan is endorsed by the police union, he's very close to many of the police officers in Staten Island and I think we are making a mistake by assuming he is going to do a good job presenting this case," he said. "And I fear, once again, a group of police officers are going to get away with what at least amounts to manslaughter, or second degree homicide, for the reckless disregard for a person's life and causing them to die."

The police union and Pantaleo's lawyer argue that the police officer didn't use a chokehold, but rather a takedown move taught by the police department, and that Garner's poor health was the cause of his death.

The Medical Examiner's office ruled Garner's death a homicide caused by the officer's chokehold, as well as chest and neck compressions and prone positioning "during physical restraint by police."

Criminal defense and civil rights attorney Ron Kuby told Latin Post in August that there is only one way to hold police accountable for crimes they commit against the citizenry.

"That is through an independent statewide prosecutor for police misconduct. We used to have independent statewide and citywide prosecutors for police corruption and they were very effective, but apparently stealing a bag of cocaine is considered more serious than stealing the life of an African-American," Kuby said. "That's the only way you will get police accountability, because local district attorneys are locally elected, they frequently rely on many of the same police officers who are investigating other police officers, and they are very reluctant as a rule to second guess the police involving line of duty killings. Sometimes they won't even present the case to a grand jury."

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Police Commissioner William Bratton said he doesn't anticipate any violence in New York City once a grand jury decides whether to indict the police officer.

Anti-police brutality organizations have arranged for people to gather in Union Square and Foley Square, New York City at 5:30 p.m., on Thursday for a rally.