IPFS News Link • Police Accountability Report
Eric Garner's Homicide Solved
• http://blog.simplejustice.us, Scott H. GreenfieldIt's the responsibility of the medical examiner to make the judgment call requiring medical expertise as to cause of death. Garner's asthma, obesity and high blood pressure contributed to his death, which is nothing extraordinary or unusual. People come in whatever condition they are; even fat asthmatics get to live.
Under New York Penal Law §125.00, homicide is defined as "conduct which causes the death of a person . . . under circumstances constituting murder, manslaughter in the first degree, manslaughter in the second degree, criminally negligent homicide, abortion in the first degree or self-abortion in the first degree. This is not a matter of debate or discussion, not that people lacking either the knowledge or expertise won't do so anyway, but a matter of law.
Staten Island, which in official New York City parlance is called Richmond County, is its smallest county and the home of many police officers. It's an affordable suburban place, despite being considered little more than the place where New York City garbage was dumped. Driving through Staten Island required holding one's nose for years, as the odor was noxious. The courthouse is small and undistinguished, but it had its own District Attorney, Daniel M. Donovan, Jr., who has held the office since 2004.