Records Sought in Local Prison Death

Medical examiner rules fight led to heart attack

The mother of an Albany man whose death at the Fishkill Correctional Facility just outside Beacon has been ruled a homicide is seeking a court order for documents from the Orange County Medical Examiner’s Office in preparation for a lawsuit. 

Ameek Nixson, who was serving a five-year sentence for dealing drugs, died at Montefiore St. Luke’s Hospital in the City of Newburgh on Oct. 23 following an altercation with another inmate. The fight was “violently broken up” by correction officers, who did not activate their body-worn cameras, according to a petition filed Monday (May 5) in state court. 

Witnesses interviewed by the New York State Police reported that correction officers “slammed” Nixson to the ground after separating him from the other inmate, and that a guard kneed Nixson’s head and slammed him into a counter, according to the petition. Prison personnel found him “unresponsive” within minutes of being taken to the infirmary, according to court documents. 

The Orange County medical examiner determined that Nixson, 39, died from a heart attack caused by homicide, in this case, a “physical altercation.” The New York State Police closed its investigation in January, concluding that “no suspects had been developed whose actions directly led to the death of Mr. Nixson,” according to Debra Greenberger, the attorney for Nixson’s mother. 

Greenberger is seeking photos and video of Nixson’s body, tissue samples, medical records from the prison and the emergency personnel who treated Nixson, and other records, so they can be examined by an independent pathologist. 

“To date, Mr. Nixson’s grieving family has received no answers regarding the circumstances of his death, and the complete absence of body-worn camera footage only deepens their concerns and raises serious questions,” said Greenberger.

Orange County has not responded in court to the request for documents.