New York State’s attorney general has determined that the Mount Vernon police were not criminally culpable for the death in jail of an African-American mother of eight who had been arrested on shoplifting charges, a source familiar with the investigation said on Thursday.
A seven-month investigation into the death of Raynette Turner, 42, found that she died of natural causes at the Mount Vernon police headquarters, the source said. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman was expected to release a comprehensive report at a 1 p.m. news conference.
The report, the source said, contains interviews with more than 40 witnesses, surveillance video and more than 1,700 pages of medical records, including autopsy and toxicology reports.
Schneiderman was also expected to introduce policy recommendations, including one related to ensuring a speedy arraignment of arrestees.
Turner was found unresponsive in a holding cell on July 27, 2015, two days after she was arrested on suspicion of stealing crab legs from a supermarket in Mount Vernon in Westchester County, near the border of the Bronx borough of New York City.
Turner, whose children ranged from in age from 8 to 21, complained to officers that she was feeling ill the night before her death, according to reports. After being taken to a hospital she was returned to her cell. She was to be arraigned the day she was found dead.
The episode is one in a series of publicized deaths around the country of African Americans in police custody.
The incident is the first such case to be handled by Schneiderman’s office after Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that all police shootings would be investigated by the state.
(Reporting by Marcus E. Howard; Editing by David Gregorio)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-newyork-probe-idUSKCN0W528T
What a shocker!!! Police investigate themselves and find they did nothing wrong. Imagine that!