An independent audit of Maryland's medical examiner office found that nearly forty in-custody deaths labeled accidental or undetermined should have been classified as homicides. Anton Black, a 19-year-old Black man with severe bipolar disorder, died from asphyxiation after being chased, shackled, and left face-down by police; his death had been ruled an accident. Maryland's former head medical examiner's pro-law enforcement testimony in the Derek Chauvin trial raised concerns about bias. The discredited diagnosis "excited delirium" has been used by police and forensic officials to justify violent restraint and obscure custodial killings. A national review is urged.
Anton Black was 19 years old when police officers chased him, shackled him, and left him face-down on the ground, struggling to breathe. He died from asphyxiation. Despite tireless objections from his family, the Maryland Medical Examiner called his death an accident. Until now. After Maryland's former head medical examiner testified in 2021 that Derek Chauvin was not responsible for George Floyd's death, concerns arose that his pro-law enforcement bias may have affected his office's decisions during his seventeen-year tenure.
Anton Black was a Black man, a demographic more likely to face police violence. And he had a mental disability - severe bipolar disorder - which, also, made him more likely to experience police violence. But officers at the scene of his death claimed he exhibited " superhuman strength " to justify their use of extreme violence against him. "Superhuman strength" is an apparent reference to the now debunked "excited delirium."
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