Posted on 08/04/2006 8:13:27 AM PDT by sportutegrl
The Delco coroner said the death was not heat-related. The man had heart disease.
A 59-year-old man stacking concrete blocks in this week's torrid heat to fulfill a community service requirement died of a heart attack, Delaware County officials said.
David Marvel of Essington was pronounced dead at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital Tuesday after collapsing at a construction site at the Delaware County Emergency Training Center in Darby Township.
Medical examiner Fredric Hellman said heat was not a factor in the death because Marvel's body temperature was not elevated.
An autopsy yesterday indicated the cause of death was a heart attack brought on by arterial disease, Marvel's history of high blood pressure, and physical exertion, Hellman said.
Another man in the alternative sentencing program disagreed. "It was heat-related" said Aaron Keenen, who was working alongside Marvel. "I am 100 percent sure of that."
Keenen, 20, said he was alarmed by Marvel's appearance and urged him to drink water and rest. "He fell over and smacked his head on a piece of wood," he said. "We were dumping water on our shirts and putting them on him."
Marvel was in a program that allows participants to avoid trial and sentencing for first-time offenses, his attorney, Eugene A. Bonner, said.
"He was a law-abiding citizen all of his life," Bonner said. "He made a mistake. It's upsetting. It shouldn't be something where people are put at risk."
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
It this is true, though, a couple of points. It's a lot easier to arrest people who aren't dangerous than to actually go after the bad guys. As to the body temperature not being elevated, if they took a core body temperature at the ER, it would tell if heat exhaustion or heat stroke was present. Core body temperature is a good indicator. However, the heat could be a contributing factor, even if it wasn't the cause. The cause could be a heart attack from exertion and existing coronary conditions. I tend to be skeptical of medical reports, particularly when they involve a governmental entity that may be at fault for the death. They're kind of like the old lawyer joke, "What's 2+2?" "What do you want it to be?"
" . . . and the innocent we let off with a warning." -
Old KGB motto from Gulag days.
You can't meet your arrest quota doing that. I wonder how many Jaywalkers they got that day?
Where's the story about the young man arrested for asking for directions?
In Philly, a few years ago, a teenager was arrested for calling 911 because he was lost.
Doesn't this fall under the "Cruel and unusual punishment" bit?
"Instead they arrested him?!?!?"
You are confusing a free state with a police state. Of course they arrested him.
I'd be hard pressed to find the link but it happened a few months ago in Baltimore.
Exactly. I did some community service as a teenager and it involved sweeping the floors at a public recreation center. A friend of mine sorted files and documents. At both places we were inside and the work was far from demanding.
Lifting concrete blocks is "hard labor" --the type of work associated with chain gangs and incorrigible prisoners.
I don't think so. It's still here. Was this posted earlier, because I searched on the title.
Just doing the work that Americans unions refuse to do.
Pennsylvania has some of the most antiquated, prohibition era liquor laws I have ever seen, but then I come from Louisiana originally.
'If not, will it prevent him from voting Dem in the next election?'
'Not in Philly (and a couple of times in NJ too).'
+* +* +* +*
LOL. That doesn't stop them from voting in St. Louis either. Some of the dead people cast multi-votes.
bttt
And it shouldn't be a crime, there are so many laws that it is impossible to not break one sooner or later... : ) <<< me
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