Activist Erica Garner, Whose Father Was Killed During Arrest, Dies Aged 27

Erica Garner, a Black Lives Matter activist whose father Eric Garner was killed by a New York police officer in a violent incident in 2014, has died in hospital at the age of 27.

Four months ago, Garner gave birth to a son, but her mother Esaw Snipes told the New York Times that she learned of a heart condition during her pregnancy.

Last week, the young mother suffered a heart attack after an asthma episode, and was placed in a medically-induced coma, from which she never woke up.

She is survived by her son and a daughter.

Erica Garner’s father Eric died in 2014, after being subdued in a choke hold during a police stop on Staten Island, where he was allegedly selling loose cigarettes.

His last words, “I can’t breathe”, became a rallying cry for Black Lives Matter activists, including his daughter, who became a voice for police accountability after his death.

A grand jury failed to induct the officer who subdued Eric Garner, despite the fact that NYPD policy prohibits the use of choke holds, but the city paid out $US 6 million in a civil settlement after his death.

Tributes have poured in for Erica Garner following her death, with Al Sharpton saying: “She was a warrior to the end. She stood up for justice for her father.”

Bernie Sanders said that although she “didn’t ask to be an activist, she responded to the personal tragedy of seeing her father die … by becoming a leading proponent for criminal justice reform and for an end to police brutality.”

A message left by her family on her official Twitter account read:

“When you report this you remember she was human: mother, daughter, sister, aunt. Her heart was bigger than the world. It really really was. She cared when most people wouldn’t have. She was good. She only pursued right, no matter what. No one gave her justice.”

Garner’s mother told the New York Times: “The only thing I can say is that she was a warrior. She fought the good fight. This is just the first fight in 27 years she lost.” RIP.

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