A family in the Bronx is looking for answers from the New York Police Department after the NYPD said an 18-year-old committed suicide in her cell following an arrest after a fight with her girlfriend earlier in the day, according to reporting from NBC New York.
According to the NYPD, Saniyah Cheatham got into a fight with her girlfriend after a family cookout, leading to both women being arrested. Shortly before 1 a.m. on July 5, police said Cheatham was found unconscious in her cell. Police claim they attempted life-saving procedures on the teen before transporting her to Lincoln Hospital, also in the Bronx. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Cheatham’s mother, Thomasina Cheatham, said the police told her she used a sweater to asphyxiate herself. However, Thomasina said her daughter didn’t have a sweater on that day and is questioning the police account of suicide and is looking for footage from the precinct where she was held.
“What happened to her? I don’t believe she killed herself. Maybe she said something they didn’t like [and] they roughed her up. I don’t believe my daughter committed suicide,” said Thomasina of the NYPD’s claims.
Thomasina also said Cheatham was all smiles and happy earlier in the day during the family cookout, questioning why she’d then take her own life later in the cell. “She was happy and I was happy to see her,” said Thomasina.
The NYPD’s Force Investigation Unit is looking into Cheatham’s case. The Unit investigates deaths that happen in police custody. Thomasina and her family are asking for the NYPD to release surveillance footage from inside the precinct, video from the arresting officers’ body cameras, and an autopsy.
Thus far, the medical examiner has not determined a cause of death in Cheatham’s case.
