Re: “And yet they ruled it a homicide”
Perhaps you can give me a quick summary of how they drew a line of criminal liability from an injury free neck and throat to cardiopulmonary arrest?
If you discussed this in an earlier Comment, just send me the Comment #.
Thanks.
so this question is a little outside my lane, but I think I have the answer. It is subject, however, to more expert verification than mine as I am by training a critical care anesthesiologist, not a forensic pathologist.
That being said, the Medical Examiner rules on the cause of death. Criminal Liability is determined by the State Attorney in context of the evidence presented. The medical examiner is only ruling on how he died, not the criminality of it. The designation homicide means killed by another person. For example if I get hit by a car walking down the middle of the interstate, it is a homicide. The other rulings are suicide and natural causes. So in this case (from my understanding) the pathologist is ruling that this was NOT natural causes (like a heart attack) and not suicide. He is ruling that but for the actions of the police (or perhaps some other as yet to be determined human) the victim would not have died.
If I am incorrect, I stand to be corrected and educated, but this is my understanding of the process