Erica Garner Passes Away at Age 27

Erica Garner, the daughter of police chokehold victim Eric Garner, died Saturday morning in Brooklyn, her family confirmed.

Death details on Erica Garner

Garner, 27, had been fighting for life since she suffered a massive heart attack a week ago, family members told the Daily News Thursday.

“She was a warrior, she was a fighter and we didn’t pull the plug on her,” said Esaw Snipes, Garner’s mother. “She left on her own terms.”

Garner suffered her first heart attack shortly after giving birth to her son, with doctors saying the pregnancy stressed her already enlarged heart.

Garner had been in a coma since Dec. 23, when an asthma attack triggered a second heart attack.

Erica’s 8-year-old daughter made the call not to remove her mom from life support this week, Snipes said.

The person managing Erica Garner’s Twitter account told followers Wednesday that a CT scan revealed she had suffered brain damage “from lack of oxygen while in cardiac arrest.”

On Saturday morning, Garner’s Twitter handler confirmed the sad news of her passing.

Activism

Erica Garner was a trailblazer who sprung into action after the tragic avoidable death of her father in 2013.

Eric Garner’s pleas of “I can’t breathe!” as he was put into a chokehold by police officer Daniel Pantaleo, a move the NYPD had banned, helped spark the Black Lives Matter movement and spurred his daughter to become an advocate against police brutality.

Garner began staging weekly “die-ins” on the sidewalk in front of a beauty supply store in Staten Island, the site where the New York City police officer put her father in the fatal chokehold.

A grand jury did not indict any officers in Eric Garner’s death, sparking more protests across the country. The coroner’s report lists his death as a homicide, but no officer has ever been charged in the case. In 2015, the city of New York settled with his family for $5.9 million.

Bernie Sanders

In 2016, Erica Garner endorsed Bernie Sanders for president and was the focus of a video promo for the candidate.

“He’s been, basically, a protester his whole career,” she said. “He’s not scared to go up against the systematic racism that exists in America today.”

In the Sanders video, Garner explained why she became an activist.

“I’m just trying to get the truth out there to tell his side of the story,” she said of her late father. “He was being a loving, caring man that he was, and he was murdered. For a whole year, I’ve protested every Tuesday and Thursday. I feel like a representative for people throughout this whole nation because I’m doing this, I’m speaking out, me being his daughter. And that’s what I want to do, I just want to tell my truths.”

“I’m never giving up,” she said. “I’m never going to forget. And I don’t want the world to forget what happened to my dad.”

Erica Garner fought vigorously for her father

In countless interviews and protests, Erica Garner vehemently resolved she would fight against a system that failed her father until justice was served.

“This is not a race issue, this is a national crisis”, she exclaimed in an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon.

While Erica Garner was a freedom fighter overall she was a human : a mother, daughter, sister, and aunt. Her mother says her heart was bigger than the world.

Thank you Erica for your tireless work against police brutality.

Rest in peace.