Philly health official forced to resign over MOVE cremations

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia's top health official was compelled to resign Thursday after the city's mayor said he learned partial human remains from the 1985 bombing of the headquarters of a Black organization had been cremated and disposed of without notifying family members.

Mayor Jim Kenney said Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley decided to cremate and dispose of the remains of the MOVE bombing victims several years ago.

The announcement of Farley's ouster came on the 36th anniversary of the MOVE bombing by design, after Kenney consulted victims' family members. Among the 11 slain when police bombed the organization's headquarters, causing a fire that spread to more than 60 row homes, were five children.

In a statement released by the mayor’s office, Farley said that in early 2017 he was told by the city’s medical examiner, Dr. Sam Gulino, that a box had been found containing materials related to MOVE bombing victims' autopsies.

“In the box were bones and bone fragments, presumably from one or more of the victims,” Farley said.

It is a standard procedure to retain specimens after an autopsy ends and the remains are turned over to the decedent’s next-of-kin, Farley said.

“Believing that investigations related to the MOVE bombing had been completed more than 30 years earlier, and not wanting to cause more anguish for the families of the victims, I authorized Dr. Gulino to follow this procedure and dispose of the bones and bone fragments," Farley said.

The decision was his alone, and other top city officials were not consulted, he said.

After recent reports that local institutions had remains of MOVE bombing victims, Farley said he reconsidered his actions and notified higher-ups. Kenney said Farley told him about what occurred late Tuesday, took...