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It’s Wednesday.

Weather: There’s a chance of rain and thundershowers early in the morning and again after 1 p.m. The high will be around 90.

Alternate-side parking: In effect until Aug. 11.

Five years after Eric Garner died, the Justice Department announced it would not bring federal charges against the officer who placed him in a chokehold.

Attention immediately turned to Mayor de Blasio, who has allowed that officer, Daniel Pantaleo, and others involved in the fatal encounter, to remain on the New York Police Department payroll.

“Mayor de Blasio, do your job. Fire these officers,” Mr. Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, said at a news conference.

Catch me up. What happened?

The Justice Department was considering whether to bring federal civil rights charges against Officer Pantaleo. On video taken by a bystander, he is seen wrapping an arm around Mr. Garner’s neck and helping to wrestle him to the ground. (Mr. Garner had been accused of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes.)

On the video, Mr. Garner is heard saying “I can’t breathe” 11 times.

Officer Pantaleo still works for the city?

Yes.

Officer Pantaleo has been stripped of his gun and badge and assigned to desk duty since the July 17, 2014, encounter.

In 2016, Politico reported that Mr. Pantaleo had bolstered his salary of $78,000 with more than $23,000 in overtime pay.

Can Mr. de Blasio fire him?

Yes.

The Police Department is a highly regulated agency. It is constrained by federal and local laws, decades of court rulings and labor agreements with several unions.

Despite all that, the mayor has tremendous influence over the department, and also appoints the police commissioner, who makes the final decision about internal disciplinary matters.

The mayor also selects the head of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which investigates certain allegations of police wrongdoing.

What has the mayor said about employing Officer Pantaleo?

Initially, Mr. de Blasio said he wanted federal officials to finish their inquiry before the Police Department initiated its own. That way, the mayor said, there would be no interference.

Officer Pantaleo’s departmental trial began in May and ended last month, but the judge has yet to release her decision.

In 2015, the city agreed to pay Mr. Garner’s family $5.9 million to settle a wrongful-death claim.

Yesterday, the mayor implied that waiting to begin the departmental inquiry was wrong.

“We won’t make that mistake again,” he said in a statement. From now on, the Police Department and the review board “will begin its disciplinary process immediately” when an unarmed civilian is killed by a police officer.

What’s next?

Mr. Garner’s supporters plan 11 days of protests throughout the city to pressure Mr. de Blasio into taking action.

A lawyer for the Garner family said it would seek federal charges under a new administration. “The next president and the next attorney general will be presented with the same facts,” said the lawyer, Jonathan Moore.

From The Times

After an expert found that New York City housing policy deepens segregation, City Hall wanted the report kept secret.

Landlords sued to dismantle tighter laws passed in Albany, arguing that new rent regulations were unconstitutional.

How the opioid crisis arrived at New York’s commuter hubs. In the throes of addiction, people gather around Penn Station and the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Did you know? There is an underground bar in the Columbus Circle subway station.

“Waitress,” the Broadway musical, will close in January after four years.

[Want more news from New York and around the region? Check out our full coverage.]

The Mini Crossword: Here is today’s puzzle.

What we’re reading

There were four ICE immigration raids in Brooklyn in four days. [Bklyner]

Get ready for train service disruption on the Upper West Side. [West Side Rag]

A home in New Jersey was on sale for $10, and nobody bought it. [New York Post]

A trendsetting bar on the Lower East Side recently celebrated its 30th year in business. [amNew York]

Coming up today

Bobby Kim, who co-founded the streetwear brand the Hundreds, discusses his memoir, “​THIS IS NOT A T-SHIRT: A Brand, a Culture, a Community — A Life in Streetwear​,” at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe in Manhattan. 7 p.m. [Free]

Three writers celebrate their new novellas with readings, signings and a reception at the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn. 7 p.m. [$10]

The bill at Arlene’s Grocery in Manhattan comprises four musical acts, including the singer-songwriter Greta Keating. 7 p.m. [$10]

Where is the line between art and documentary photography? A panel addresses the question at Longwood Art Gallery at Hostos in the Bronx. 7 p.m. [Free]

— Vivian Ewing

Events are subject to change, so double-check before heading out. For more events, see the going-out guides from The Times’s culture pages.

And finally: Holy honorifics, Batman! You’re in the Hall of Fame!

Eighty years ago, Batman was born.

And yes, technically, he lives and works and secretly fights crime in a city called Gotham.

But we all know it’s really New York City. His creators, the writer Bob Kane and the artist Bill Finger, conceived of Bruce Wayne, the philanthropist with a crime-fighting alter ego, while living in the Bronx. (They used to meet at Poe Park to brainstorm about Bat-man, as he was initially called.)

Today in California, Batman will be inducted into Comic-Con Museum’s Character Hall of Fame. His longevity alone is worthy of applause. (Superman debuted only a year earlier.)

Batman stories have provided immense depth to the canon. There is seemingly no limit to the narratives that can be told through the lens of a character who witnessed the murder of his parents and grew up to use his fortune to battle evil. Crime and justice; loss and healing; even love and loneliness.

Kevin Conroy, an actor who has been the voice of the animated Batman character, said in a statement, “Batman has no powers, but he doesn’t let tragedy overcome him.”

Or, as David Mazouz, the actor who plays the young Bruce Wayne in “Gotham,” put it: “Batman turns tragedy into strength. He turns pain into something positive for everyone around him.”

For those who are unable, or unwilling to leave Goth … — I mean New York — you can see Batman art at the Society of Illustrators (128 East 63rd Street). “Illustrating Batman: Eighty Years of Comics and Pop Culture” is on display through Oct. 12.

It’s Wednesday — check out Batman.

Metropolitan Diary: In her prayers

Dear Diary:

I lived in New York City in the early 1980s. In those days, you could stand in line at the Main Post Office to mail your entry form for the New York City Marathon at midnight on deadline morning.

Once, after doing that and having no money to take a cab home, my roommate and I waited at the bus stop. She was reading “Tender Torment” while I danced to the latest tunes on my Walkman.

A cabby pulled up and offered us a free ride.

No way, we said. Did we look stupid? A free ride in New York City? Uh-uh.

The cabby pulled up his pants leg and showed us a gun. Then he showed us his police badge. He was undercover and worried about the two of us reading and dancing on the curb. We were scared of him, and he was worried about us.

He gave us a ride home and asked us to pray for him and for his sister, a nun.

I still do to this day. Thank you, Officer Hernandez.

— Amanda Schwenke

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