Philadelphia now says MOVE victims remains weren t cremated
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May 14, 2021
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1of3FILE - In this May, 1985 file photo, scores of row houses burn in a fire in the west Philadelphia neighborhood. Police dropped a bomb on the militant group MOVE s home on May 13, 1985 in an attempt to arrest members, leading to the burning of scores of homes in the neighborhood. A day after Philadelphia s health commissioner was forced to resign over the cremation of partial remains thought to belong to victims of a 1985 bombing of the headquarters of a Black organization, the city now says those victims remains were never destroyed. City officials told the victims family Friday, May 14, 2021 that a subordinate had disobeyed Health Commissioner Thomas Farley’s 2017 order to dispose of the remains.File/APShow MoreShow Less
However, attorney Leon A. Williams told NBC10 that he learned Friday night through the family of the MOVE victims that the remains were not destroyed after all. A subordinate of Farley s in 2017 decided not to follow the commissioner s orders and saved the remains, Williams said.
He said city officials called members of the Africa family, whose relatives died in the bombing in 1985, to let them know the remains were saved. Kenney confirmed that the remains were found in a statement late Friday. Late this afternoon, Medical Examiner’s Office (MEO) staff notified the Managing Director’s Office that a box labeled MOVE was located in a refrigerated area at their office, Kenney said. After comparing the contents of the box to an inventory of bone specimens and fragments from 2017, they appear to be the remains thought to have been cremated four years ago.
The Philadelphia health commissioner, who ordered the remains of some people killed in the 1985 MOVE bombing to be destroyed in 2017, resigned on Thursday. But.
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Philadelphia’s city health commissioner resigned this week after saying he cremated and disposed of some of the remains of the 1985 MOVE bombing victims.
However, on Friday, it was unclear what exactly had happened as the city announced that the remains were discovered in a refrigerated section of the Medical Examiner’s Office.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said Thursday that Dr. Thomas Farley resigned effective Wednesday. He made the announcement on the 36th anniversary of the bombing, which the city carried out against members of the Black liberation group MOVE.
“This action lacked empathy for the victims, their family, and the deep pain that the MOVE bombing has brought to our city for nearly four decades,” Kenney said in a statement. “The Team investigating this incident will include individuals specifically approved by the Africa family and we will make every effort to resolve this matter to MOVE’s satisfaction.”
Mayor Jim Kenney said Friday that the remains of the bombing victims, which were thought to have been destroyed in 2017, were located at the medical examiner s office that afternoon.