NEW YORK >> Eric Garner may have had a history of encounters with police but never resisted arrest — the justification given by the police union for the use of force that included a chokehold that led to his death, Garner’s wife said Sunday.

"I’m not going to say he was a career criminal, but I’m going to say he had a past of being arrested," Esaw Garner told NBC’S "Meet the Press." ”And he never, not once, ever resisted arrest."

A bystander’s cellphone video captured Eric Garner saying "I can’t breathe" as officers held the 43-year-old down. Garner was being arrested on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, according to police. Garner was "murdered unjustly," his wife said.

Esaw Garner said police knew her husband’s history — "It’s just something that he continued to do and the police knew, you know," she said — and would harass their family.

"They said things to us," she said. "’Hi Cigarette Man. Hey Cigarette Man Wife,’" she said.

The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Esaw Garner’s claims of harassment.

Esaw Garner said she told her husband to ignore police, but he had a difficult time doing it. She said her husband asked her, "How much can I ignore them?"

The fatal encounter occurred in July after police officers responded to complaints about Garner, a father of six.

The video showed Garner telling officers to leave him alone and refusing to be handcuffed. One officer, an eight-year veteran, appeared to wrap his arm around Garner’s neck and take him down to the ground with the help of other officers.

The medical examiner later found that a chokehold resulted in Garner’s death, but also that asthma, obesity and cardiovascular disease were contributing factors.

On Wednesday, a grand jury declined to indict the white officer who applied the hold, sparking a series of protests in the city and beyond.

Garner said she and her children have moved out of their Staten Island neighborhood over concern for their safety.

"I’m so afraid of what could happen to them in the street by the police," she said.