The widow of a man who died in Schenectady police custody has released audio that reveals her husband complained of having difficulty breathing.
In the nine-minute tape, Andrew Kearse reportedly told officers had trouble breathing and felt nauseous. His widow, Angelique Negroni-Kearse, told the Daily Gazette she recorded the audio with her cell phone while viewing footage of the encounter in a meeting with the Attorney General’s office, which is investigating the case.
Negroni-Kearse said she believed her husband would be alive if police had called an ambulance. According to the newspaper, Schenectady Police Chief Eric Clifford said in a statement that the release of the tape is “unfortunate” and called it partial and selective.
Kearse died on May 11th. He was taken into custody following a brief foot chase after a traffic stop.
