May 29 2007
Rats in the City

“Face Off,” Funeral Home Accused of Allowing Rats to Eat a Man’s Face

This weekend I was in the city dipping in and out of stores, and found myself at West 4th Street in time for the tip-off of the annual street ball tournament season. It was a female game, but entertaining in that WNBA way. You know, if you can pick out the players tougher than you are and their girlfriends on the sidelines, some of them are actually cute.

Anyway, before the game there was pizza to be eaten. Check. Not ten minutes after finishing it off, someone pointed out to me that across the street, three stores down from the pizza shop was the Taco Bell that was all over the news for entertaining midnight rat parties.

Nice. So that hair on the crust of the pizza wasn’t Mexican mustache?

Rats are the most disgusting and bold creatures on the planet.

They do not care about your feeble attempts to swat them with brooms or early morning shouts to clear the hallway, “Please let me use the bathroom first!” It’s their world, they’ll get back to you and step aside when and if they please.

Rats will also eat anything.. even your dead brother’s face.

Tyrone Ragland

Tyrone Ragland is suing a Harlem funeral home for allowing rats to literally treat his brother’s corpse as a beef jerky. As reported in the Village Voice, the funeral home had a history of losing bodies and taking cold corpses from neighborhood hospitals.

Tyrone Ragland says his family was “moving on up” or out.. with the help of his brother, Tyrone had plans to buy a two-family house in Queens to raise their children and get away from the guns and drugs of the neighborhood. Only problem, Tyrone’s brother, William was involved in the drug game himself.

Just like Carlito’s Way, in the midst of planning an escape from a decidedly foul life, in the shadows his adversaries were planning his death. Soon after making their plans, Tyrone’s brother was murdered for $500 and a few packages of heroin - an alleged contract killing.

The murder was a huge blow to the family.

They gathered themselves and planned for an open-casket funeral.

Plan B had to be sketched up when they went to the funeral home to view the body, Tyrone Ragland described the horrific scene..

“Chunks of his flesh, bites of him was taken of his neck, his arms, his forehead.. They pulled the sheet down to his shoulders and that’s all my stomach could take.”

William Ragland's body

His brother’s nose was completely gone, white patches of gnawed on flesh potmarked his forehead, cheeks and neck. A pizza party or beef jerky, whatever the case there was some funeral mismanaged rat snacking going on.

His brother Tyrone Ragland had initially contacted the Riverton Funeral Home (the one accused of past offenses), but decided to go with Florence E. Browne Funeral Home, but Riverton picked up the body from the hospital without contacting him. They later transported the body to the funeral home of his choice, Florence E. Browne, claiming his brother’s body was in perfect condition at the time.

Florence E. Browne claims otherwise, so his lawsuit sits in the realm of, he said, she said.

He’s not sure which funeral home is to blame.

The moral of the story? Can’t pin one on you, but to my familia, when I cross over, roast my body over extra-large, extra-hot coals. I will haunt you from the skies if my ears are used as snack food.

Check the full story at - Face Off << *shaking head * Don’t you love that title?


☼ What's Your Opinion? ☼

1 Wow Wed, May 30, 2007 - 2:40 am

I just read this the other day in The Village Voice. I don’t understand how this funeral home has been able to be in business so long. And what’s even more messed up is that those people who filed lawsuits will probably never get their money for their pain and suffering.

2 www.myspace.com/bannedfrommyspaceagain Wed, May 30, 2007 - 11:52 pm

They could get something if they get it investigated by them “boys”.

3 mz.me Fri, Jun 01, 2007 - 1:28 pm

that is nast how can they stay in bisness whith things like that going on

4 Realcutiew/dabigbootey Fri, Jun 08, 2007 - 1:52 pm

SUE DEM BASTARDS!!!!-PURE DISRESPECT

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