New York Laws
Article 17-A - Coroner, Coroner's Physician and Medical Examiner
674 - Manner of Investigation.

(b) The coroner or coroner and coroner's physician, or the medical
examiner, also shall make or cause to be made, quantitative tests for
alcohol, and for any trace of a controlled substance, as defined in
section three thousand three hundred six of the public health law, that
the coroner, coroner's physician or medical examiner has reasonable
cause to believe is present, on the body of every operator of a motor
vehicle or a pedestrian sixteen years of age or older who was involved
in and died as a result of a motor vehicle accident; provided, however,
such tests shall not be made pursuant to the provisions of this
paragraph if such coroner, coroner's physician or medical examiner has
reason to believe that the decedent is of a religious faith which is
opposed to such test on religious or moral grounds.
4. A coroner, coroner's physician or medical examiner shall have power
to subpoena and examine witnesses under oath in the same manner as a
magistrate in holding a court of special sessions.
5. Notwithstanding section six hundred seventy of this article or any
other provision of law, the coroner, coroner's physician or medical
examiner shall promptly perform or cause to be performed an autopsy and
to prepare an autopsy report which shall include a toxicological report
and any report of any examination or inquiry with respect to any death
occurring within his or her county to an incarcerated individual of a
correctional facility as defined by subdivision three of section forty
of the correction law, whether or not the death occurred inside such
facility.