How a Genetic Trait in Black People Can Give the Police Cover
Michael LaForgia and Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, New York Times, May 15, 2021
When they carried the body of a 32-year-old Black man named Lamont Perry out of the woods in Wadesboro, N.C., there were no protests over his sudden death in police custody.
No reporters camped at the scene. No lawyers filed suit.
Instead, the final mark in the ledger of Mr. Perry’s life was made by a state medical examiner who attributed his death in large part to sickle cell trait, a genetic characteristic that overwhelmingly occurs in Black people. The official word was that he had died by accident.
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Lake, Sumter COVID vaccines surpass 256,000
More than 256,000 people have received at least one dose of the three vaccines available for COVID-19 in Lake and Sumter counties, based on Wednesday’s county update from the Florida Department of Health.
Of the 256,110 who have received a dose of the Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson vaccine in Lake and Sumter counties since the state began its vaccination program in December, 171,665 were in Lake and 84,445 were in Sumter.
All told, 214,689 of those vaccinated, including 140,580 in Lake and 74,109 in Sumter, completed the two-shot series Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, or the single dose vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson through Tuesday – the latest information contained in Wednesday’s update. The majority – 132,856 in Lake County and 69,659 in Sumter – received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
Murder investigations could be delayed.
Insurers may postpone life insurance payments.
The Stark County Coroner s Office says this could happen because it has been unable to perform autopsies.
Its sole forensic pathologist who did the autopsies, Daniel Brown, resigned in September to become a freelance pathologist. The former Akron police officer worked for Stark County for about nine months. He had replaced the prior pathologist, Renée Robinson, a Hoover High School graduate. She had stepped down in February 2019 after about three and a half years.
What are pathologists?
Pathologists are medical doctors who specialize in the study of bodily tissues and fluids. They often do a five-year residency after medical school. Forensic pathologists are pathologists who do an additional year of fellowship training. They perform in-depth internal and external examinations of bodies, known as autopsies, to help determine cause and manner of death.