NEW YORK — A makeshift Staten Island memorial for Eric Garner — the 43-year-old black man who died this summer after being put into a fatal chokehold by a white New York City police officer — burned down Monday night from what the FDNY ruled an “accidental candle fire.” The fire came after Garner’s family had spent the day attending events across the city honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Cynthia Davis, a spokeswoman for the family, told The Huffington Post Tuesday morning they believe the blaze to have been an accident.
“The police department explained to me what happened,” said Davis, who works at the National Action Network. She said officers offered to show her surveillance footage of the memorial, which they said showed the memorial suddenly start to smoke. A passersby then saw it burst into flames and called 911.
Earlier, in a series of tweets Monday night, Garner’s daughter Erica had said she suspected arson.
–
“We come tonight at the end of a long day … because ultimately Dr. King gave his life for justice,” Sharpton said at the vigil, according to The Staten Island Advance.
It was just hours later that the memorial honoring Garner burned down.
“Memorials can be rebuilt,” Davis told HuffPost Tuesday, “but the important thing is that the building didn’t catch fire and no one was hurt.”
The Garner family is planning more vigils and protests this month. A Staten Island judge will hold a hearing Jan. 29 about whether to release transcripts of the grand jury investigation into Garner’s death, but it is unknown when he will rule. Grand jury records are typically sealed, but four petitioners — the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Legal Aid Society, Public Advocate Letitia James and The New York Post — are set to argue that there’s a compelling public interest in the releasing the records.
