NEW YORK – A white New York City police officer accused of killing a black man with a chokehold avoided indictment, raising the prospect of new protests over police use of force a week after a Missouri grand jury cleared a white officer there in the shooting death of an unarmed black teen.

The grand jurors on New York’s Staten Island reached their decision Wednesday after months of testimony in the death of Eric Garner, Richmond County District Attorney Daniel M. Donovan Jr. said in a statement. Garner, 43, died July 17 after plainclothes officers led by Daniel Pantaleo sought to handcuff him, forcing him to the ground after stopping him for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes.

A bystander’s recording of the incident was widely circulated, triggering outrage and calls for the officers to be charged, as well as a federal civil rights investigation.

“Today’s outcome is one that many in our city did not want,” New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio said in a statement. “But we also know that this chapter is not yet complete. The grand jury is but one part of the process. There will still be an NYPD internal investigation. And we know the U.S. attorney is continuing her investigation. Should the federal government choose to act, we stand ready to cooperate.”

DeBlasio also sought to address planned protests following Wednesday’s decision, and concerns they may mirror those that shook Ferguson and cities across the country last week.

“We all agree that demonstrations and free speech are valuable contributions to debate, and that violence and disorder are not only wrong – but hurt the critically important goals we are trying to achieve together,” he said.

The Staten Island panel’s decision came just a little over a week after a Missouri grand jury declined to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson over the death of Michael Brown, sparking weeks of protests that spread from Washington to Seattle.

The decision not to indict may fuel tensions on Staten Island, New York civil rights activist Al Sharpton has said. A march there in August to denounce the use of lethal force in Garner’s death attracted at least 3,000 people.

“How can anyone in the community have faith in the system now?” Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a New York-based advocate for human rights, said in a statement today. “First Ferguson, now Staten Island. The grand jury’s failure to indict sends the clear message that black lives don’t matter.”

Jonathan C. Moore, an attorney for the Garner family, didn’t respond to telephone and email messages seeking comment.

The video of the incident showed Pantaleo applying what appeared to be a chokehold, prohibited by department policy, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has said. Garner can be heard repeating “I can’t breathe” as officers wrestle him to the ground.

The New York City Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Garner’s death a homicide caused by “compression of the neck” and chest, and “prone positioning during physical restraint.” Contributing factors included acute and chronic bronchial asthma, obesity, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, according to the medical examiner.

Patrick J. Lynch, president of the city’s police union, said the officer’s intention was to “do nothing more” than take Garner into custody and only used a “take-down technique” he learned in training.

“No police officer starts a shift intending to take another human being’s life and we are all saddened by this tragedy,” Lynch said in a statement.

Pantaleo, 29, a lifelong resident of Staten Island who has been an NYPD officer for about eight years, said in a statement distributed by the union that he didn’t intend to harm anyone.

The grand jury began meeting in September to review evidence in Garner’s death. Donovan announced the panel would probe the death of Garner on Aug. 19, the same day prosecutors in Missouri announced an investigation into Brown’s killing by Wilson.

Wilson, 28, resigned from the Ferguson police force after the grand jury decision.