Death Of Man Who Was Restrained By The NYPD Is Ruled A Homicide

Ronald Singleton, a 45 year-old father of four, went into cardiac arrested while in custody of the NYPD.

Singleton’s death came 4 days before another restraint-related death. According to another police report by The Inquisitr, Eric Garner, 43, was killed when the police used a choke hold while arresting him. It was unknown to the police that Eric had asthma and could be heard shouting, “I can’t breathe!” in a video that recorded the scene.

These two aren’t the only people who died while under the custody of the police. According to another Inquisitr report, Victor White was shot in the back while handcuffed in a cop car.

Police medical examiners have determined that Ronald Singleton was under the influence of PCP at the time of his arrest. The police said that Ronald was fighting and arguing in the back of a taxi when the taxi driver pulled over and got the cops. Singleton then became angry and began to fight with the foot patrol who was called over by the taxi driver. The police officers then called the emergency service officers who restrained Ronald Singleton and put him in a full body protective wrap.

But as he was inside the police car, Ronald Singleton started to go into cardiac arrest and he was pronounced to be dead on arrival at Roosevelt Hospital. The police medical examiner said Ronald Singleton’s death was caused by “physical restrain[t] by police during excited delirium due to acute [PCP] intoxication.”

The medical examiner went on to say that the physical restraint and PCP weren’t the only things that contributed to his death. Heart disease, obesity, and hyper-tension contributed to it as well.

Lyn Singleton, his 44 year-old widow, said:

They used brute force, not paying attention to the person’s needs. They should have paid attention to him,” she said. “I’m lost, I can’t find my way. I loved him. I was thinking this was very similar to Garner.

Although, Singleton’s death was 4 days before the incident with Eric Garner, it did not get a lot of attention from the media or press. But after Ronald Singleton’s death was ruled as a homicide, it has gotten a lot of press.

With the recent media attention on Ferguson, Garner, and others, this case has become part of the debate on how much force police should use when restraining citizens.