Maryland Medical Examiners office – pattern of bias

Maryland Medical Examiners office – pattern of bias

I read a few article on the investigation into Dr. Fowler and the death investigation of Mr. Black (19yrs old) in Baltimore, MD. There are several similarities that my mom (Mary Couey) experienced with the Maryland Medical Examiner’s office in 1986 in the hanging death of my brother Keith Warren who was also 19yrs old at the time of his death and what is currently going on today. In 1986 it took my mom several months to get the official copy of the medical examiner’s report on my brother’s death and she had to drive to Baltimore to get it despite several request from her to have it mailed or faxed to her just like in the case of Mr. Black.

The Medical Examiner along with the Montgomery County Police Department (MCP) used my brother’s prior mental history to justify the findings of suicide just like the case of Mr. Black death. Particular noting in the NPR article “…being improperly influenced by police and clearing the path for police to “develop a narrative that absolved the involved officers of their wrong doing…”

It was known by MCP that Deputy Medical Examiner John Rogers did not go to every scene specifically Keith’s death scene. It was never confirmed that Deputy Medical Examiner John Rogers was at the scene and was implied by several officials to my mom that Rogers got his information over the phone from Beasley. This gave Det. Beasley the opportunity to create the narrative of how Keith got on the tree using information from an 3rd party, unrelated, unknown source at the scene which gave him information about Keith’s prior mental history to determine Keith’s death a suicide. Then Detective Beasley used said information to justify sending the body to the funeral home of his choice ordering NO autopsy.

Clearly there is a script/pattern which the Maryland Medical Examiner’s office follows pertaining to the death of young black men in the State of Maryland that has been going on for decades:

Information sourced from: https://wtop.com/maryland/2021/04/marylands-former-chief-medical-examiner-subject-of-lawsuit-to-testify-in-chauvins-defense/?fbclid=IwAR1rJXWmXgF0khtQ2hZ22EZQRlIfKcuM2mmMIKn1Gk83viy1Lgw5DKyzdEk

a. “It would take four months from the time the autopsy was performed for Fowler to sign off on the medical examiner’s report, which officially declared the cause of death an “accident.” The report was released only after Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan intervened.

b. “The medical examiner’s report said Black had suffered a “sudden cardiac death” and cited an underlying heart condition — one that Black had never been diagnosed with, the family said. A recent mental health diagnosis of bipolar disorder was also a “significant contributing condition” to Black’s death, according to the autopsy report.”

Information sourced from: https://www.npr.org/2021/04/24/990536193/maryland-to-probe-cases-handled-by-ex-medical-examiner-who-testified-in-chauvin-

a. “Specifically, the ACLU accuses Fowler and the medical examiner’s office of obstructing the officer-involved death investigation by delaying the release of an autopsy for months, being improperly influenced by police and clearing the path for police to “develop a narrative that absolved the involved officers of their wrongdoing.”

The similarities are unnerving and concerning that this pattern is continuing in the State of Maryland three decades later.

 

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