The family of 18-year-old Saniyah Cheatham is demanding answers after the Bronx college student died in police custody earlier this month.
Cheatham died by hanging while held at the NYPD’s 41st Precinct after a July 4 arrest, according to the medical examiner.
“What happened to her? I don’t believe she killed herself,” said the teen’s mother, Thomasina Cheatham, according to NBC4 New York. “Maybe she said something they didn’t like, they roughed her up. I don’t believe my daughter committed suicide.”
According to the family, police told them that Cheatham used a sweater to asphyxiate herself while in custody.
Her mother disputed this. “She did not have on a sweater that day. Oh, she hung herself on the bars? I would like to see that,” Thomasina said.
Cheatham, who was taken into custody after reportedly getting into a fight with a friend on July 4, was found unresponsive in her cell at approximately 12:40 a.m. on Saturday, July 6, according to CBS News. NYPD officials said officers attempted CPR until emergency responders arrived. She was then transported to Lincoln Hospital, where she was pronounced dead later that morning.
Her death has sparked outrage, with her family and supporters demanding transparency and a full investigation.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who announced he is representing the family, joined them outside the precinct for a press conference on Monday, July 14—eight days after Cheatham’s death. Crump said Cheatham died under “highly questionable circumstances” and urged the NYPD to release surveillance footage from inside the precinct.
“We are demanding, from the NYPD, answers,” Crump said during the conference, according to CBS News. “It’s been 10 days since this tragedy. How long, NYPD, before we release the video? How long, NYPD, before the family gets answers? How long, NYPD, before we get accountability for the death of this 18-year-old child, this daughter?”
“It’s clear to us there must have been things that were missed. Because how does an 18-year-old healthy girl end up dead? We’re here to ask the NYPD to let us see,” he continued.
“Who was asleep at the wheel, to where this 18-year-old child ended up dead while she was in your care, in your custody? They have a duty to make sure you are cared for while you’re in their custody. Why, why did they not care for Saniyah Cheatham?”
CBS News reported that the NYPD has stated that the department’s Force Investigation Division is investigating the incident. However, as of now, no surveillance footage has been released, and the family maintains that they do not believe Cheatham died by suicide.