Coroner’s examination concludes that North Las Vegas fire captain died from natural causes

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

8 years ago

Capt. Yaphet Miller, North Las Vegas Fire Department (City of North Las Vegas)

Capt. Yaphet Miller, 43, is shown during a reunion with then 11-month-old Jaielayah Swindell in January 2007. Miller had rescued the baby from a fire a few weeks earlier. The North Las Vegas fire captain died in the line of duty Wednesday night, Oct. 5, 2016. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Captain Cedric Williams, the public information officer for the North Las Vegas Fire Department, wipes away tears during a press conference to announce the death of his friend and colleague Captain Yaphet Miller on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2016, in Las Vegas. “He was my compadre,” said Williams. “I loved him very much.” (Benjamin Hager/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

NORTH LAS VEGAS — A medical examination revealed that a veteran North Las Vegas fire captain whose death last month was marked as a line-of-duty fatality had heart and vascular diseases and died because of a lack of oxygen.

Autopsy results made public Monday by the Clark County coroner said 43-year-old Yaphet Miller’s death was from natural causes also including an irregular heart rhythm.

The fire department said Miller became ill after a multialarm blaze Sept. 23 at a shopping center off Rancho Drive near Washington Avenue in Las Vegas.

Fire Capt. Cedric Williams said his friend died Oct. 6 while hospitalized with his wife at his side.

Miller was a 22-year veteran of the fire service who was credited in 2007, along with several colleagues, with rescuing a toddler from a fire.