Local

D.C. hires former Philadelphia health commissioner who ordered destruction of bombing victims’ remains

By Michael Brice-Saddler and Jenna Portnoy
Yesterday at 8:06 p.m. EST | Updated today at 12:28 p.m. EST

Thomas Farley, then Philadelphia’s health commissioner, made national headlines in May when he admitted to ordering the cremation and disposal of human remains that belonged to victims of a 1985 police bombing in West Philadelphia years ago, without notifying their surviving family members.

Farley was asked to resign. And even though the Philadelphia Inquirer reported afterward that one of Farley’s subordinates had apparently disobeyed his orders in 2017 and preserved the victims’ remains instead, Farley’s admission still outraged members of the Black radical liberation group MOVE, whose headquarters were targeted in the attack some 36 years ago. Farley said in a May statement that he took full responsibility for his decision and called it a “terrible error in judgment.”

But Farley was the subject of criticism again Tuesday, when it was revealed that he was hired to join the executive ranks within D.C.’s health department. Black Lives Matter DC tweeted a screenshot of an email sent by Health Director LaQuandra Nesbitt to the “DC Health Team” that detailed Farley’s hiring, asserting that his appointment would have an adverse impact on Black city residents.

{snip}

By Michael Brice-Saddler
Michael Brice-Saddler covers D.C. government and politics for The Washington Post's Metro desk. He joined The Post in June 2018 as an intern after graduating from the University of Maryland. Before moving to local politics, he covered national and breaking news on the general assignment desk. Twitter https://twitter.com/TheArtist_MBS

By Jenna Portnoy
Jenna Portnoy covers Virginia, Maryland and D.C. politics for The Washington Post. She previously worked for the Newark Star-Ledger and the Allentown Morning Call, and has been a newspaper reporter since 2001. Twitter https://twitter.com/jennaportnoy