Man who Recorded Eric Garners Death Sick after NY Officers Threaten Covid-19 Infection

After receiving numerous threats of receiving Covid-19 infection, from Midstate Correctional Facility guards, Ramsey Orta has fallen ill.

Orta has been the victim of ongoing harassment from New York Police Department, stalking and illegal persecution since he recorded the death of Eric Garner in 2014.

He is currently serving time at Midstate Correctional Facility, where guards have threatened to infect him.

According to WeCopWatch:

“The Corrections Officers at Midstate Correctional Facility have threatened to infect him with the deadly virus and said he will be lucky to get out of Midstate alive.”

There has been confirmation of at least one staff member who has tested positive within Midstate Correctional Facility.

WeCopWatch has also list other threats that Orta has received. Correctional Officer Mayo has attempted to use scare tactics such as telling Orta that he will make it difficult to make it home. Correctional Officer Crego has claimed to have the virus and hopes to give it to Orta, WeCopWatch wrote. They go on to say that Correctional Officer Bork told Orta that he will be lucky to make it home alive.

The threats have came after weeks of Orta being denied basic essentials, such as cleaning supplies for his cell and soap.

Prisons that have inadequately handed out cleaning supplies have seen the virus spread within the prisons quickly.

Since falling ill, Orta has been placed in the infirmary, according to WeCopWatch.

Orta has been facing ongoing abuse and torture by NYSDOCC since before the Covid-19 outbreak. He has been transferred to 10 different facilities and put in solitary confinement on 7 separate occasions. He also spent over a year in isolation.

According to WeCopWatch:

“Ramsey risked everything when he filmed the death of his friend Eric Garner at the hands of the NYPD and now six years later, his own life is at risk,” says Deja Richardson, his fiancé. “We just want him home.”

Orta was sentenced to prison in October 2016, after New York City police officers reported that they saw him place a gun in the waistband of a teenage girl who was with him. No fingerprints were found on the gun, according to his lawyer.

Orta said the gun was planted. He also said the NYPD began stalking him after the July 2014 video went viral. He claims that officers would shine flashlights through his windows at night. Orta also says that officers would park their cars in front of his building, looking for any excuse to arrest him until they eventually nabbed him.

Though Orta did not only what any friend who do, as well as the right thing in recording the Garner death, he now risking his own life behind bars while Officer Daniel Pantaleo continues to be a free man.

Orta is scheduled to be released in July of 2020.