Erica Garner, the oldest daughter of a New York City man whose police-chokehold death sparked nationwide protests, is reportedly brain-dead with no chance of recovery after suffering a massive heart attack over the weekend.
The 27-year-old’s mother, Esaw Snipes, told the New York Daily News that her daughter remained on life support Thursday and family members had gathered at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn to pay their respects.
“She’s not gone, she’s brain-dead,” Ms. Snipes told the outlet. “Physically she is still with us.”
Ms. Garner, who became an outspoken critic of police brutality after her father Eric Garner’s death in 2014, fell into a coma Saturday after an asthma attack triggered a heart attack, the Daily News reported. Her mother said Erica had previously suffered a heart attack due to an enlarged heart shortly after her son, named after her father, was born in August.
The Rev. Al Sharpton prayed with the family at the hospital Thursday.
“We’re here with the family every day,” Mr. Sharpton said, the Daily News reported. “[Erica] was a warrior. She was a real activist, she was always involved. From three years ago, she never stopped. She was always at rallies, she was always calling me — ’Reverend, we’ll do this. Reverend, we’ll do that. We’ll do it your way, then I’m gonna do it different than you.’
Eric Garner, who was black, died after a white police officer put him in a chokehold while arresting him on Staten Island in 2014. The NYPD officer was not charged in Garner’s death, which sparked Black Lives Matter protests across the country. An out-of-court settlement in which the city agreed to pay the Garner family $5.9 million was announced in 2015.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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