Chair questions Christopher Rodriguez death and autopsy delays

On August 19th, Christopher Rodriguez died while being housed at Bellevue Hospital.

When he was found, he was in a quote-unquote medical distress state before being pronounced dead at 8.39 a.m.

Mr.

Rodriguez was the sixth death of a person in the department's custody this year.

Do we know what the cause of his death was?

At this time, we don't, but I will echo Commissioner Richard's statement and extend our condolences to Mr.

Rodriguez's family.

Our hearts go out to them, but at this time, it is pending investigation, and that final determination regarding the medical autopsy is still pending.

Just segueing real quick, just on the autopsies, because we're, I think, up to eight deaths now for this year.

And every time I get a call, I ask about the previous deaths in terms of the status of the autopsies.

And I'm just curious as to why it's taken so long, because even with the toxology reports, I understand they take a little bit longer in time, but...

I think the earliest death may have been like February, March, if I'm not mistaken.

And we still don't even know the cause of death for that person.

And we're now in September.

But if a regular New Yorker needed to go through the medical examiner, have an autopsy and a toxology report, we would have had the results by now.

So what is the delay with the department for these results?

Well, that determination regarding how somebody succumbed to whatever happened to them is through the medical examiner's office.

And so it can take a few months before we receive the final determination.

When we understand that, you know, those final determinations can bring the family members closure and we'll support them throughout this process to make sure they know who to contact.

I'm going to have to defer to the OCME regarding their timelines to make that final determination.

That's not something that the department looks into.

We rely on our partners to share that information.

So the department doesn't ask why it's taken so long or what the timeline is?

I mean, we will engage with them, certainly.

I mean, we've had a longstanding partner with OCME, but, you know, they...

Because it's taken longer than the average New Yorker, and you all are an agency.

Correct.

A sister agency.

So I would imagine you would be able to get the information sooner.

I mean, we can certainly circle back and we can have those conversations with them.

You know, they're looking at this from the citywide lens as well.

But we're open to have those conversations to see what we can do.

Absolutely.