NYC Jazz Drummer Was Choked To Death, Medical Examiner Says

THE BRONX, NY — The acclaimed jazz drummer who was found dead in his Bronx apartment last week was choked to death, New York City's medical examiner said Monday.

Police found the Grammy-winning musician Lawrence Leathers dead in a stairwell of the East 141st Street apartment where he lived on June 2.

The city's Office of Chief Medical Examiner ruled the 37-year-old's death a homicide and said he was killed by "homicidal asphyxia with compression of neck," indicating he was put in a chokehold.

The NYPD said it has arrested two people in connection with Leathers's death. Sterling Aguilar of Brooklyn and Lisa Harris of The Bronx both face manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges, online court records show.

Harris — who was Leathers's girlfriend — and Aguilar are accused of punching and choking the musician for half an hour after Leathers and Harris got into an argument, the New York Daily News reported.

Leathers attended the Julliard School and formed a backing band for the jazz singer Cecile McLorin Salvant, according to Pitchfork. He won Grammys in 2015 and 2017 for his work on Salvant's albums.