Civil Rights lawyer Benjamin Crump introduced Sunday that he’s representing the household of Saniyah Cheatham, the 18-year-old Black lady who died whereas in NYPD custody over the Fourth of July weekend.
“Saniyah Cheatham was an 18-year-old together with her entire life forward of her. I commend her mom, Thomasina, for her braveness in standing as much as demand the reality. How might this occur to a younger lady in police custody? Why wasn’t her security ensured by these charged together with her care? No mom must be left at midnight after her baby dies in police custody. We demand full transparency and accountability for this grieving household,” Crump mentioned in a press release.
Crump held a information convention on Monday with the Cheatham household to demand solutions from the NYPD.
On July 4, Saniyah Cheatham spent the day together with her household throughout a cookout at Crotona Park within the Bronx. In some unspecified time in the future later that night, after the cookout, Saniyah allegedly acquired right into a combat together with her girlfriend and was arrested by the NYPD. The NYPD detained Saniyah on the forty first Police Precinct within the Longwood neighborhood simply earlier than midnight.
The NYPD alleges Saniyah Cheatham hanged herself with a sweater solely minutes after being detained. Telephone data present Emergency Medical Providers arriving shortly after 1 a.m. on July 5, when Saniyah was transported to Lincoln Hospital and pronounced useless. On Monday, a medical expert dominated Saniyah’s loss of life a suicide, and the NYPD’s Power Investigation Division is presently investigating Saniyah Cheatham’s loss of life.
Thomasina Cheatham expressed disbelief on the NYPD’s official story. “What occurred to her? I don’t imagine she killed herself,” Thomasina informed NBC 4. “Perhaps she mentioned one thing they didn’t like, they roughed her up. I don’t imagine my daughter dedicated suicide.”
Thomasina added that Saniyah wasn’t carrying a sweater whereas she was on the cookout and is looking on the NYPD to launch surveillance footage from the precinct, in addition to the lapel video from the officers concerned in Saniyah’s arrest.
“Oh she hung herself on the bars. I wish to see that,” Thomasina Cheatham informed NBC 4.
In-custody deaths all the time elevate a sure diploma of skepticism, and rightfully so. Sandra Bland’s 2015 in-custody loss of life after being detained throughout a routine site visitors cease raised consciousness round in-custody deaths and the #SayHerName marketing campaign. #SayHerName started in 2014 by the African American Coverage Discussion board Middle for Intersectionality (AAPF) and Social Coverage Research (CISPS) as a technique to “resist the invisibility of Black ladies, ladies, and femmes by telling their tales of police violence.”
Extra not too long ago, the occasions surrounding Quantez Burks’ 2022 loss of life solely additional validate the skepticism surrounding in-custody deaths. Burks was detained in West Virginia’s Southern Regional Jail for lower than 24 hours when he allegedly brushed previous an officer to exit his holding cell. The officers responded by handcuffing him, transferring him to a room with out surveillance cameras, pepper-spraying and beating him till he was unconscious. An officer then used Burks’ head to open a steel door the place his physique was positioned.
The state medical expert initially dominated Burks died from pure causes, however an unbiased post-mortem ordered by the household revealed a number of areas of blunt pressure trauma. An investigation revealed a number of corrections officers tried to cowl up the circumstances resulting in Burks’ loss of life. Final week, two of the previous officers concerned had been sentenced to over 20 years in jail for conspiring with different officers to violate Quantez Burks’ civil rights, leading to loss of life.
The circumstances of Quantez Burks’ loss of life are sadly proof that the official story isn’t all the time the true story. Saniyah Cheatham’s in-custody loss of life is a tragedy, and we will solely hope her household will get the footage they’re rightfully demanding.
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