The family of a Bronx woman who died in police custody does not believe the ruling of the city medical examiner regarding her death and insists she had no reason to die. Despite that ruling, they say they are determined to find the truth and have filed a $25 million lawsuit. City medical examiners said in July that Saniyah Cheatham, 18, died when she hanged herself after being taken into custody in an assault case. She was found unresponsive on July 5 in the holding cell at the NYPD’s 41st precinct in the Bronx. Cheatham’s family is adamant that she did not take her own life and suspects that police may have had something to do with her death — one of nine in NYPD custody this year..
“I don’t believe she killed herself,” Cheathman’s mother, Thomasina, told WNBC. “Maybe she said something they didn’t like, they roughed her up. I don’t believe my daughter committed suicide.”
Cheatham, a Bronx Community College student, was smiling and happy just the day before at a July 4 cookout at Crotona Park. “She was happy and I was happy to see her,” said Thomasina. However, she got into a fight with her girlfriend, which led to their arrests.
The family said police told them that she used a sweater to hang herself in the holding cell, but they said she was not wearing a sweater that day.
In the lawsuit, filed in October, attorney David B. Rankin filed paperwork claiming the city is “vicariously responsible” for Cheatham’s death. “Ms. Cheatham is dead as a direct result of NYPD officers’ actions and omissions,” it said, according to the Bronx Times.
“Officers knew she was in mental health distress and threatening suicide, yet they failed to follow required safety protocols and failed to intervene, even though she was visible on surveillance video” family attorney Benjamin Crump said in a statement. “No mother should be left in the dark after her child dies in police custody. We demand full transparency and accountability for this grieving family.”
While the number of custody deaths is lower than last year, the Department of Investigations has launched an investigation. However, since the NYPD is normally in charge of the fatalities, the reports have remained unclear.
Due to a recent string of deaths in police custody, community groups rallied outside City Hall in September to get a 10-point plan in motion to address the problem. In the plan, the Bronx Defenders, a public defender organization, wants the NYPD to recognize the “crisis” of custody deaths, stop low-level arrests, have a City Council inspection, and more.
“The people and communities we serve have long raised concerns about the dangerous conditions inside NYPD custody, yet the City has failed to respond. Each death is a preventable tragedy, and we urge immediate action on this 10-point plan to help ensure that no more lives are lost,” said Tina Luongo, chief attorney in the Criminal Defense Practice at the Legal Aid Society, in a statement.
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