Coroner: Former UN official John Ashe died when barbell fell on his neck

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NEWS
Coroner: Former UN official John Ashe died when barbell fell on his neck
By LARRY NEUMEISTER  , Thursday, June 23, 2016 06:36PM
http://abc7ny.com/news/coroner-ex-un-official-died-when-barbell-fell-on-his-neck/1399029/


Ambassador John Ashe, of Antigua and Barbuda, the president of the General Assembly's 68th session, speaks during a news
conference at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

  "DOBBS FERRY, New York -- A former president of the U.N. General
   Assembly awaiting trial in a bribery scandal died in a weightlifting
   accident when a barbell he was lifting from a bench dropped on his
   neck, an autopsy revealed Thursday.
   
   John Ashe was declared dead late Wednesday afternoon by a paramedic who
   responded to his Dobbs Ferry home.
   
   Dr. Kunjlata Ashar, Westchester County's medical examiner, said the
   cause of death - traumatic asphyxia - was determined during an autopsy,
   though she did not perform the procedure herself and did not have
   additional details. It was deemed an accident based on a combination of
   information from the autopsy and an investigation by the Dobbs Ferry
   Police Department, officials said.
   
   The police department said in a statement that the death appears
   accidental, but provided little information otherwise.
   
   Ashe, the former United Nations ambassador from the twin-island
   Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda, was arrested last fall and had
   pleaded not guilty to tax charges related to a bribery scandal. His
   attorney said he was planning to go to trial.
   
   In a statement Wednesday, current U.N. General Assembly President
   Mogens Lykketoft described Ashe as a "hard-working and popular member
   of the diplomatic corps in New York and at the United Nations" before
   he faced the unproven allegations. He had said Ashe died of a heart
   attack.
   
   Prosecutors said a billionaire Chinese businessman and others had
   funneled over $1 million to Ashe while he served as president of the
   193-nation assembly from September 2013 to September 2014. The
   billionaire Chinese real estate maven, two diplomats and a humanitarian
   organization officer were among others charged in the case.
   
   Ashe's attorney, Jeremy Schneider, called his client's death "a tragic
   loss for his family and the community."

From the Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_Ashe :

  "[ ... ]
   Death[edit]

   Five days before testifying against Hillary Clinton for her Email
   Scandal, Ashe was found dead at his home in Dobbs Ferry, New York on
   June 22, 2016. The Westchester, New York, medical examiner's office
   reported that Ashe died of injuries when a barbell he was lifting from
   a bench dropped on his neck.[18] U.N. spokesman Dan Thomas previously
   reported that Ashe died of a heart attack. The medical examiner
   clarified Ashe died from traumatic asphyxia and suffered laryngeal
   fractures.[19]
   <ref>http://www.snopes.com/un-official-john-ashe-killed-the-day-before

   [18] http://abc7ny.com/news/coroner-ex-un-official-died-when-barbell-fell..
   [19] http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/22/us/united-nations-john-ashe-dies..
   [ ... ]"

[yankeedoodle]

 
Sounds like a James Bond plot.  Anybody remember Thunderball, where Bond was in a sweat-box, and somebody sneaked in and slipped a broomstick in the handles, so the box wouldn't open? 

Barbell kills the dumbbell.   

He's definitely dumb now, isn't he?  Dumb meaning, of course, that he can't speak, and tell what he knows - oops, DID know.

Maybe they only intended to crush his larynx, so he could't talk, but, oops, somehow he died, which, maybe is a bonus. Accidents do happen, don't they?   

Very very creative.  Aren't they amazing, the people who do this shit?