Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump Representing Saniyah Cheatham’s Family
Civil Rights attorney Benjamin Crump announced Sunday that he’s representing the family of Saniyah Cheatham, the 18-year-old Black girl who died while in NYPD custody over the Fourth of July weekend.
“Saniyah Cheatham was an 18-year-old with her whole life ahead of her. I commend her mother, Thomasina, for her courage in standing up to demand the truth. How could this happen to a young woman in police custody? Why wasn’t her safety ensured by those charged with her care? 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,” Crump said in a statement.
Crump held a news conference on Monday with the Cheatham family to demand answers from the NYPD.
On July 4, Saniyah Cheatham spent the day with her family during a cookout at Crotona Park in the Bronx. At some point later that evening, after the cookout, Saniyah allegedly got into a fight with her girlfriend and was arrested by the NYPD. The NYPD detained Saniyah at the 41st Police Precinct in the Longwood neighborhood just before midnight.
The NYPD alleges Saniyah Cheatham hanged herself with a sweater only minutes after being detained. Phone records show Emergency Medical Services arriving shortly after 1 a.m. on July 5, when Saniyah was transported to Lincoln Hospital and pronounced dead. On Monday, a medical examiner ruled Saniyah’s death a suicide, and the NYPD’s Force Investigation Division is currently investigating Saniyah Cheatham’s death.
Thomasina Cheatham expressed disbelief at the NYPD’s official story. “What happened to her? I don’t believe she killed herself,” Thomasina told NBC 4. “Maybe she said something they didn’t like, they roughed her up. I don’t believe my daughter committed suicide.”
Thomasina added that Saniyah wasn’t wearing a sweater while she was at the cookout and is calling on the NYPD to release surveillance footage from the precinct, as well as the lapel video from the officers involved in Saniyah’s arrest.
“Oh she hung herself on the bars. I would like to see that,” Thomasina Cheatham told NBC 4.
In-custody deaths always raise a certain degree of skepticism, and rightfully so. Sandra Bland’s 2015 in-custody death after being detained during a routine traffic stop raised awareness around in-custody deaths and the #SayHerName campaign. #SayHerName began in 2014 by the African American Policy Forum Center for Intersectionality (AAPF) and Social Policy Studies (CISPS) as a way to “resist the invisibility of Black women, girls, and femmes by telling their stories of police violence.”
More recently, the events surrounding Quantez Burks’ 2022 death only further validate the skepticism surrounding in-custody deaths. Burks was detained in West Virginia’s Southern Regional Jail for less than 24 hours when he allegedly brushed past an officer to exit his holding cell. The officers responded by handcuffing him, transferring him to a room without surveillance cameras, pepper-spraying and beating him until he was unconscious. An officer then used Burks’ head to open a metal door where his body was placed.
The state medical examiner initially ruled Burks died from natural causes, but an independent autopsy ordered by the family revealed multiple areas of blunt force trauma. An investigation revealed several corrections officers attempted to cover up the circumstances leading to Burks’ death. Last week, two of the former officers involved were sentenced to over 20 years in prison for conspiring with other officers to violate Quantez Burks’ civil rights, resulting in death.
The circumstances of Quantez Burks’ death are sadly proof that the official story isn’t always the true story. Saniyah Cheatham’s in-custody death is a tragedy, and we can only hope her family gets the footage they’re rightfully demanding.
SEE ALSO:
Black Teen Saniyah Cheatham Dies While In NYPD Custody
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