Wake service held for 18-year-old Bronx woman who died in police custody
The family previously told News 12 that the teenager was on her way home from a Fourth of July cookout at Crotona Park, when she got into a fight with her girlfriend and was arrested for disorderly conduct.
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Family, friends and community members filed into a funeral home in Harlem on Monday for a wake service to honor Saniyah Cheatham, the 18-year-old Bronx woman who died while in police custody on July 5.
“It’s just emotional,” said Javan Cheatham, Saniyah’s brother. “For me it’s just having to realize that she won’t be by my side.”
The family previously told News 12 that the teenager was on her way home from a Fourth of July cookout at Crotona Park, when she got into a fight with her girlfriend and was arrested for disorderly conduct.
At first, police said that Cheatham became unresponsive while inside of a cell at the 41st Precinct in Longwood and died by suicide - then later said it was a medical emergency.
The medical examiner ruled the teen’s death to be a suicide.
The family is calling on the city for more transparency.
“I just want justice for Saniyah in general,” said Cheatham. “I also don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”
Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson supported the family at the wake service.
“The investigation will play itself out,” Gibson said. “And I do stand with the family in getting all of their questions answered and, of course, demanding accountability.”
The family hired civil rights attorney Ben Crump to represent them.
Crump released a statement on social media saying that he will call for justice at Tuesday’s funeral service and address surveillance video from inside the 41st precinct, which the family demanded to be released.
