The New York City medical examiner announced on Friday that a Staten Island man died from a chokehold and the compression of his chest by police officers as they arrested him last month for allegedly peddling untaxed cigarettes.

An autopsy found that the manner of death for Eric Garner, 43, was homicide, the medical examiner said in a statement. While the report found that Mr. Garner’s poor health was a contributing factor, it was not the primary cause of his death.

The statement did not include details about any injuries to Mr. Garner’s body discovered during the autopsy. And it did not provide any information about how the medical examiner’s office reached its conclusions.

The New York Police Department has banned, for more than two decades, the use of chokeholds, which it defines broadly to include any police maneuver that puts “any pressure to the throat or windpipe, which may prevent or hinder breathing or reduce intake of air.”