There are two more days left until New Year's Day and another tragedy has occurred. Erica Garner was pronounced dead Saturday morning (Dec. 30), at the age of 27, from a Heart Attack. She was the daughter of Eric Garner, a police brutality victim, who died when a New York Police officer held him in an illegal chokehold back in July 2014.

Heart attack a few days before Christmas

According to the New York Daily News, Erica experienced a heart attack a week ago. Then, on Dec. 23, she had an asthma attack, which put her in a coma. A family member from Erica's Twitter account, posted that this led to “brain damage due to lack of oxygen while in cardiac arrest.” Erica went through a heart attack twice this year.

The first one occurred after she gave birth to her second child in August of this year, whom she named after her father, Eric. The doctor discovered that Erica had an enlarged heart at that moment.

Her death was confirmed on her Twitter account by a family member with a post that said, “She passed away this morning. The reports are real. We didn’t deserve her.”

Erica becomes a civil rights activist

Erica became an activist after her father’s death. She led various marches, held countless of community meetings, and even reached out to the mayor to get justice for her father’s wrongful death from police brutality.

Unfortunately, there was no luck with Mayor Bill de Blasio. Erica frequently spoke about him refusing to release disciplinary records on NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, the man who killed her father. The New York Daily News reported that De Blasio mentioned he couldn't release the records because of the state civil rights law referenced in Section 50-A.

Erica fought for years and still, no justice has yet been served. She was a strong supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement and was never afraid to speak out against anything that was wrong. She was also a powerful leader that always strived for a change within her community.

Eric Garner leaves a legacy

Erica’s father died saying the last words, “I can’t breathe.” His last words continued ongoing protests among black communities and across the world - to seek justice and stop police brutality.

Erica led protests that would have her followers perform “Die-ins,” which resulted in protesters lying on the floor, at the exact location where her father died in Staten Island, NY. This idea was created to protest and exemplify what happened to her father and many other victims that were in a similar situation to Eric Garner. “Die-ins” started to trend massively in many states to send a message to the officials, administration, government, and judicial system.

To name a few other known victims, they include Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, and many more.
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