Erica Garner, daughter of Eric Garner, attends a press conference with her family and the Rev. Al Sharpton in July 2015 calling for legal action against the police officers involved Eric Garner’s death following a chokehold.
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Last Updated Dec 30, 2017 12:06 PM EST
NEW YORK — Erica Garner, an activist and the oldest daughter of a New York City man who was killed by a police chokehold, died Saturday, according to a statement posted on her official Twitter account. She was 27.
The Twitter account, run by her family and friends since she became ill, asked that she be remembered as a mother, daughter, sister and aunt with a heart “bigger than the world.”
Garner was hospitalized in critical condition earlier this month after suffering a heart attack. Her mother, Esaw Snipes-Garner, had said her daughter’s cardiac arrest was triggered by an asthma attack.
Snipes-Garner said her daughter suffered her first heart attack not long after giving birth to a baby boy in August. Doctors said the pregnancy had put a strain on her heart, which was later found to be enlarged.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, in announcing Garner’s death Saturday, said she fought for justice and was “a warrior to the end.” She died in a New York hospital.
Garner became a vocal advocate against police brutality following the death of her father, Eric Garner, a Black Lives Matter icon. He died after a white police officer put him in a chokehold while arresting him on Staten Island in July 2014. A video of the arrest showed him gasping for air and repeatedly saying, “I can’t breathe.” A grand jury declined to charge the officer, Daniel Pantaleo. The family later reached a $5.9 million settlement with the city.
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