37-Year-Old Killed In Police Shooting Becomes An 'Organ Donor Hero'

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The shooting of Jarrell Garris by New Rochelle police has divided a close-knit community and raised questions about about the use of deadly force in Westchester County's second largest city, but the tragedy has given four strangers a new lease on life.

According to LiveOnNY, organs donated by Garris after his death saved the lives of four people between the ages of 30 and 75, in New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania, in need of kidney, liver, lung and heart transplants.

"Jarrell Garris, a 37-year-old New Rochelle native who tragically lost his life, became an organ donor hero today after he generously gave the gift of life to those in need," LiveOnNY CEO Leonard Achan said in a statement released on Tuesday. "LiveOnNY is humbled and honored to be the stewards of these precious gifts on behalf of Jarrell and his family so that he and others may Live On. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and his community. Our thoughts and prayers remain with them during this difficult time."

The New York Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation announced last week that it is looking into Garris’s shooting. He died in the hospital days after being shot July 3.

Officers Kari Bird, Gabrielle Chavarry and Detective Steven Conn were placing him under arrest when he physically resisted. Body cam footage released by the New Rochelle Police Department appears to show Garris grabbing an officer’s gun and attempting to remove it from the holster.

While trying to take Garris into custody, Conn fired one round from his department-issued firearm, striking Garris.