New York man accused of gouging grandmother’s eyes out kills himself in jail

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A New York man accused of blinding his grandmother when he gouged out her eyes during a dispute over money killed himself in his jail cell Friday

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Michael Grief was pronounced dead Friday night hours after a guard at Suffolk County jail on Long Island discovered Grief hanging inside his cell, Newsday reported. He was not on suicide watch at the time.

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Grief and Sheila Grief, 78, allegedly got into an argument after the 30-year-old overdrew her debit card by $1,000, prosecutors said. The grandmother attempted to get help from a neighbor when the fight escalated.

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"There, Mr. Grief, using his thumbs, gouged his grandmother's eyes one at a time with such force that the globes of her eyes ruptured, both of them,” Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini said. “The neighbors who heard the victim screaming and banging on the door came outside, found her on the ground and called the police.”

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Grief shrugged and responded, “So?” when officials told him what he had done to his grandmother

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