COURIER LIFE, F 6 EBRUARY 12-18, 2021
What happened to
Edwin Segarra?
Family demands answers following
Brooklyn inmate’s death
The family of Edwin Segarra demands answers from the Metropolitan Detention Center following
his death on Feb. 5. Photo by Dean Moses
BY DEAN MOSES
Protesters gathered on Monday outside
the Metropolitan Detention Center
in Sunset Park, where a 46-year-old inmate
was being held prior to his death
on Feb. 5 — and prison management is
allegedly refusing to release his body.
The large gathering amassed across
the street from the Sunset Park jail on
Feb. 8 to call for greater transparency
surrounding the death of Edwin Segarra,
an inmate who loved ones say
succumbed to COVID-19 mere days after
receiving the vaccine.
Members of Segarra’s family alleged
Monday that offi cials will not respond
to requests for further information
about his death, nor will they allow the
family to take custody of his body for funeral
preparations. In hopes of aiding in
the plea for clarity, protest organization
Black Lives Matter Greater New York
helped Segarra’s family organize a rally
at the foot of the 12-story high federal
building closed to visitors since the onset
of the coronavirus pandemic.
With megaphones and banners depicting
Segarra’s face in hand, the group
chanted “No more!” as they faced the imposing
prison located at 80 29th St. Hearing
the crowd below, those incarcerated
could be seen scaling the bars on their
windows and heard hammering the
glass with their fi sts. Segarra’s son Eddie
called out to those held up in the facility,
shouting: “I see you; I hear you!”
Eddie is grief-stricken by his the
death of his father, who had been locked
up since 2009 without trial on drug
dealing and robbery charges. Having
learned of his dad’s illness through family
members, Eddie is now begging for
more answers.
“They have a program in there
where they can text. He was in contact
with my mom and my aunt. He let them
know on the 23rd that he caught the virus
after taking the vaccine,” Eddie told
Brooklyn Paper’s sister publication am-
NewYork Metro.
Since Segarra suffered from diabetes
and high blood pressure, loved
ones worried that the vaccine would
not be safe for him to receive — and
now, citing radio silence from MDC,
they fear it may have led to his untimely
demise.
“I want to know, where are the medical
records? I just want to see those
documents, his vitals. I want to know
they were looked at and it was approved
for him to take that dose,” Eddie
said. “Without any of that information,
we are just left here without any
answers. That is the worst you can do
— at least give us something.”
Roughly 40 protesters — lit only by
the headlights of parked cars — gave
speeches and recited chants directed
at the walls of MDC, behind which Segarra
fi rst became sick before being
rushed to NYU Langone-Brooklyn on
the date of his death.
During the demonstration, protesters
called on the newly installed Biden-
Harris administration to take the side of
“good” and intervene. Segarra’s family
hopes that that through federal action,
offi cials will be forced to release their
loved ones body and the details surrounding
his death.
“These people need this, they need
to know they are not forgotten,” Eddie
said, referring to the over 1,500 individuals
housed in the facility.
Neither MDC nor the Department of
Corrections immediately responded to a
request for comment.