July 11, 2025
Thomasina Cheatham says Saniyah was “all smiles simply hours earlier than,” alleged suicide in police custody.
The household of 18-year-old Saniyah Cheatham is demanding solutions after the Bronx faculty pupil was discovered lifeless in an NYPD holding cell, with officers calling the dying a suicide.
In line with the NYPD, Cheatham was found unresponsive in a cell on the forty first Precinct station home on Longwood Avenue simply earlier than 1 a.m. on Saturday.
Officers declare that she used a sweater to asphyxiate herself. Regardless of allegedly performing CPR till emergency responders arrived, Cheatham was later pronounced lifeless at Lincoln Hospital.
The NYPD’s Drive Investigation Division is now reviewing the circumstances of her dying, CBS Information reported.
“The NYPD’s Drive Investigation Division investigation stays ongoing,” the division mentioned in a press release.
Cheatham, a pupil at Bronx Group Faculty, had been arrested Friday night time following an alleged altercation along with her pal.
Her household said that each ladies have been taken into custody after the combat, which occurred simply hours after Cheatham attended a July Fourth cookout in Crotona Park.
Her mom, Thomasina Cheatham, mentioned the information of her daughter’s dying doesn’t align with the particular person she noticed earlier that day.
“She was comfortable and I used to be comfortable to see her,” Saniyah’s mom mentioned, recalling their time on the household gathering.
The NYPD has not but confirmed the small print of the altercation, however said Cheatham was alone in her cell when she was discovered unresponsive round 12:40 a.m. The health worker has not formally decided the reason for dying.
Although police have labeled the dying a suicide, Cheatham’s mom stays skeptical. “She was all smiles simply hours earlier than,” she mentioned, casting doubt on the official narrative.
The case has raised new issues about circumstances in NYPD custody and the therapy of detainees. Advocates for Cheatham and members of the family are calling for full transparency, together with the discharge of surveillance footage and detailed accounts of Cheatham’s ultimate hours.
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