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    36 Deaths in Police Custody Should Have Been Called Homicides, Report Finds

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    An audit of deaths in Maryland found that in cases of people who died after being restrained by the police, medical examiners often classified the deaths as natural or accidental.Medical examiners in Maryland miscategorized dozens of deaths that happened in police custody over the past two decades, according to a report released by state officials on Thursday.At least 36 of those deaths should have been called homicides, the report said. Instead, medical examiners had classified them as accidental, or as a result of natural or undetermined causes.The report, 70 pages long, capped a yearslong audit that revisited medical examiners’ reports over 17 years ending in 2019 — a time period matching Dr. David R. Fowler’s tenure as Maryland’s chief medical examiner — and found evidence of racism and pro-police bias.Anthony Brown, Maryland’s attorney general, said at a news conference on Thursday that medical examiners had been less likely to call a death a homicide if the person who died was Black, or if he or she had died after being restrained by police officers.“These findings have profound implications across our justice system,” Mr. Brown said. “They speak to systemic issues rather than individual conduct.”Dr. Fowler did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. He was not solely responsible for the decisions made by medical examiners during his tenure, and in the past he has defended the work of the pathologists in his office.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      4 Hotel Workers Charged with Murder of D’vontaye Mitchell

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      Four workers who pinned down D’vontaye Mitchell, 43, outside a Milwaukee Hyatt hotel in June were charged with murder. His family said he had been having a mental health crisis.Four hotel workers were charged Tuesday with murder in the death of D’vontaye Mitchell, a Black man who died outside a Milwaukee hotel after being subdued by staff members in a scene that was recorded on video and caused a public outcry.Mr. Mitchell’s family says he was having a mental health crisis when hotel staff members tried to subdue him after he ran through the lobby and into the women’s restroom. An autopsy showed that asphyxiation, cocaine and methamphetamine had contributed to his death.The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office announced the charge of felony murder against four people: Todd Alan Erickson, 60; Brandon Ladaniel Turner, 35; Devin W. Johnson-Carson, 23; and Herbert T. Williamson, 52. The charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years and nine months.Prosecutors said arrest warrants had been issued for the men, though it was unclear if they had been arrested by late Tuesday.Mr. Erickson and Mr. Turner worked as security guards at the Hyatt Hotel in Milwaukee, prosecutors said. Mr. Williamson worked as a bell attendant, and Mr. Johnson-Carson worked at the front desk. All four were fired after Mr. Mitchell’s death.The charges filed in court Tuesday came after an autopsy report released on Friday ruled the death a homicide and found that Mr. Mitchell, 43, had died from a combination of “restraint asphyxia and toxic effects of cocaine and methamphetamine” as he was held down by hotel workers in a prone position on June 30. The report also noted that Mr. Mitchell had been obese and had hypertensive cardiovascular disease.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Gila Monster’s Venomous Bite Contributed to Colorado Man’s Death, Reports Show

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      The rare fatality happened after the man endured a four-minute-long bite from the lizard to his right hand in February, records show.An autopsy report revealed that a pet Gila monster’s venomous bite contributed to a Colorado man’s death in February in what an expert described as “an incredibly rare” fatality caused by one of the desert lizards.The man, Christopher Ward, 34, died on Feb. 16 “due to complications of Gila monster envenomization,” said the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office autopsy report, which also cited heart and liver problems as contributing factors.Mr. Ward endured a four-minute-long bite by the lizard to his right hand on the night of Feb. 12, the report said. He lapsed in and out of consciousness for about two hours before seeking medical attention, the report said.Paramedics found Mr. Ward in a bed, minimally responsive and “in apparent severe distress,” the report said. He was taken to a hospital, where he was put on life support and “continued to decline throughout his hospitalization.”Mr. Ward’s girlfriend, who was present the night of the bite and who called 911, told the authorities in Lakewood, a suburb of Denver, that she was in another room when Mr. Ward was bitten and did not know what caused the lizard to strike.She said she had heard him say something “and it ‘didn’t sound right,’” according to an animal control officer’s report. When she entered the room, she found the lizard “latched” onto Mr. Ward, the report said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More