Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD Police Benevolent Association offered drastically different opinions Monday on the firing of NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, the officer who placed Eric Garner in a chokehold back in 2014.

Police Commissioner James O'Neill announced at a midday news conference that he had fired Pantaleo. The PBA held its own news conference afterward. “Today is a sad day for the NYPD, when justice has not been served. The rule of law has been ignored,” said PBA President Pat Lynch. The PBA said that the leadership of the city and the NYPD is “afraid of the criminal advocates.”

“All we’ve ever asked for for NYPD officers is fairness in the process. We did not and have not gotten that,” said Lynch.

Mayor de Blasio said that it was difficult for all those watching to “reconcile what we saw with what we must believe about law enforcement.” De Blasio said today we saw the NYPD’s own disciplinary process act fairly and impartially.

De Blasio also addressed the Garner family and said he hopes today brings some small measure of closure. He said today will not bring Eric Garner back, but he hopes this decision has brought them some sort of peace.

De Blasio says the only goal acceptable is that a tragedy like this does not happen again.

WATCH Mayor DeBalsio remarks here.

WATCH PBA remarks here.