RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A major hospital in North Carolina could lose federal funding at midnight Thursday following the strangling of a mentally ill man in the emergency room.
Andre LeMar Walker went to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville last April complaining of voices in his head. Hours later the 27-year-old was dead after a struggle with hospital police officers.
Security camera footage obtained by The Associated Press shows Walker being tackled and pinned to the floor. After he stops struggling, 3 minutes passed before life-saving measures began.
The hospital now faces the loss of $23 million a month from Medicare and Medicaid.
Hospital administrators made no report to Fayetteville police. A criminal investigation was not launched until a state medical examiner ruled months later that Walker's death was a homicide.
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