Autopsy: Heart condition contributed to police custody death
Posted January 24, 2019 8:06 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BALTIMORE — An autopsy report says a black teenager’s heart condition and mental illness were significant factors in his “sudden cardiac death” during a struggle with police officers on Maryland’s Eastern Shore last year.
The report, signed Wednesday by Maryland’s chief medical examiner, says stress from 19-year-old Anton Black’s struggle with three officers and a civilian likely contributed to his Sept. 15 death in Caroline County.
But the medical examiner’s office didn’t find any evidence that the “restraint” used by officers directly caused or significantly contributed to Black’s death.
The report also described Black’s bipolar disorder as a “significant contributing condition.”
Black fled after a Greensboro officer responded to a report of him dragging a 12-year-old boy down a street. He died after police shocked him with a stun gun and handcuffed him.
The Associated Press
