Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey announced today that an autopsy has determined that a Piscataway man, who was in police custody last fall, died from blunt force trauma to the head and neck.
The autopsy by the Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office also showed that David Yearby, 27, suffered an “acute angle insertion of coronary arteries,” which is a congenital heart condition that contributed to the cause of death on November 2, 2014.
But the post-mortem report, which remains confidential under law, could not determine how Yearby was injured, or when the injuries occurred.
The report noted that he “was involved in several physical altercations prior to and during his incarceration’’ at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center in North Brunswick.
An investigation into Yearby's death showed that he was arrested in Piscataway on October 31, 2014 and was charged with assault, assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and obstruction of the administration of justice after he punched a 16-year-old boy and then punched a police officer when she arrived at the scene.
Yearby also was charged with contempt of a judicial order arising from an unrelated incident.
Bail was set at $100,000 and he was taken to the corrections center, where he punched another inmate and struggled with corrections officers in separate incidents.
He was placed in restraints, and during a routine check, appeared to be in distress on November 2, 2014 at 3:23 a.m. He was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick and was pronounced dead at 5:06 a.m.
No charges have been filed as a result of the death.