Final autopsy report released for man who died in police custody in Maryland

GREENSBORO, Md. (ABC7) — On Wednesday, police showed ABC7 News body camera footage of the struggle that led to the death of 19-year-old Anton Black last September in the small Eastern Shore town of Greensboro.

For months, Black's family demanded answers from investigators.

"We don’t have a cause of death," Black's sister Monique Sorrell said Wednesday. "We haven’t been given one."

Now after pressure from Gov. Larry Hogan and the press, a final autopsy report has been released to the public.

The report concluded that Black died of sudden cardiac death and that he had a preexisting heart defect in which bipolar disorder was a contributing factor. All tests for drugs in Black's system came back negative.

The chief medical examiner wrote in the report that the stress of the struggle contributed to Black's death, but there was no evidence he was asphyxiated because of police restraint. The manner of death is best certified as accident — a notion Black’s family has firmly rejected.

"There was nothing wrong with Anton. There was nothing wrong with our brother. He was a good man... well respected, well liked by everyone who met him," said Black's sister La Toya Holley.

In the body camera footage, it shows Black running from a police officer who was investigating a 911 call about a child abduction. There is a violent struggle as three officers and a civilian fight to get Black in handcuffs. Several minutes later, Black becomes unresponsive. The police do CPR, but he dies.

The family issued a statement Thursday night pointing out the autopsy also found 43 blunt force trauma wounds and while it concluded police never struck or choked him they say “there was no reason for Anton Black to die.”

The Maryland State's Attorney for Caroline County Joseph Riley will not take the case to a grand jury.

In the statement below, Riley says he is "not empowered to prosecute tragic acts." Read more: