Eric Garner’s oldest daughter, Erica Garner, was hospitalized on Christmas Eve after suffering a massive heart attack. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Family and friends will gather this evening to pay their final respects to vocal Black Lives Matter activist Erica Garner.
Garner, who was thrust into the public eye after the police chokehold death of her father, Eric Garner, suffered a massive heart attack on Christmas Eve. The young mother of two was placed on life support and declared brain dead just days later. She passed away Dec. 30 after a week-long battle. She was just 27 years old.
“She was a warrior to the end,” the Rev. Al Sharpton said in announcing Garner’s death last month at a Brooklyn hospital. “She stood up for justice for her father.”
Funeral services will be held today, Jan. 8, at the First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem, NY1 News reported. The viewing will begin at 4 p.m., followed by the funeral at 5 p.m.
Garner became an outspoken activist against police brutality after her father’s death back in 2014. The elder Garner’s final words “I can’t breathe” became a rallying cry among anti-police brutality activists.
“[Erica] bravely transformed her unspeakable personal pain into political power as she became a leader in the fight for police reform,” said New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman after news of Garner’s death.
“We are sad to lose a champion of justice, but we know that the people she inspired with her fearlessness and tenacity will continue the fight.”
