The daughter of police brutality victim Eric Garner went into a coma on Saturday when she had an asthma attack that later triggered a heart attack. Five days later, the doctors at New York’s Woodhull Hospital declared 27-year-old Erica Garner brain dead with no chance of recovery.
Garner’s CAT scan revealed that the brain damage stemmed from “lack of oxygen while in cardiac arrest,” according to her Twitter account. Family members have been called to the hospital to say their goodbyes.
After the infamous 2014 death of her father due to him being caught in a police officer’s chokehold (a banned action), Garner began to speak out in support of Black Lives Matter. She became a well-known advocate for the cause while mothering two children. According to the New York Daily News, she previously suffered a heart attack after delivering her son this past summer. Doctors stated that the pregnancy had “stressed her already enlarged heart.”
Controversy surrounding the treatment of Garner’s family at the hospital has appeared on Twitter as reports of the NYPD clearing loved ones from the hospital surfaced.
Right before doctors were to pull Erica Garner out of her coma, NYPD cleared her loved ones from the entire floor, leaving Erica completely alone.
Even family with official hospital passes were forced out.
Ever since they killed her father, NYPD has harrassed Erica incessantly. https://t.co/75d3cDXfuC
— RoseAnn DeMoro (@RoseAnnDeMoro) December 28, 2017
Fellow activists and friends of Garner have also flooded to social media to comment about the stress that people fighting for justice often face throughout their lives.
My thoughts are with the family of Erica Garner. She has been at the forefront of resistance against police brutality.
But she’s also a victim of police brutality. The stress and trauma of losing a loved one to police brutality is long-lasting and can be fatal in itself.
— Denizcan James (@MrFilmkritik) December 28, 2017
As of Thursday night, Garner remains on life support.