Tag Archives: westchester

New York Attorney General Investigating Suspicious Death Of Jailed Woman Much like #SandraBland , Raynette Turner’s family is desperately seeking answers to how an arrest over a petty crime ended with the loss of her life. Via Huff Po reports : New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Monday that his office will launch a formal investigation into the death of Raynette Turner, the mother of eight who died in a Mount Vernon, New York, jail cell while in police custody last week. “My office’s Special Investigations and Prosecutions Unit will investigate the death of Raynette Turner, consistent with Executive Order No. 147 and a conforming order to be issued by the Governor at my request,” Schneiderman said in a statement. It’s the first such investigation since Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) last month issued an executive order appointing Schneiderman as special prosecutor in all cases where an unarmed civilian dies at the hands of police. Turner, 42, was arrested on Saturday, July 25 after allegedly shoplifting some crab legs from a grocery store. With no judges working on Sundays to arraign her in court on the misdemeanor charge, police officers opted to keep Turner in custody through the weekend. On Sunday night, the Mount Vernon Police Department told The Journal News, Turner said she was feeling ill and was taken to a hospital. Turner, who had a history of high blood pressure, was treated at the hospital and released. At the courthouse Monday, Turner reportedly vomited while awaiting her arraignment in an upstairs holding area. She was then taken back to a cell downstairs. Although courthouse officials are supposed to check on the holding cells every 15 minutes, The Journal News reported, no one saw Turner for another hour, when she was found dead in the cell around 2 p.m. A spokesman for the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office told The Huffington Post that Turner’s initial autopsy was inconclusive. The medical examiner’s office is awaiting results from toxicology tests. Turner was one of five black women to have died in jail during a two-week span in July. Among them was Sandra Bland, whose death in a Waller County, Texas, jail cell drew national attention and touched off demonstrations by the Black Lives Matter movement in Texas and across the country. As special prosecutor, Schneiderman’s investigation will determine whether there should be any criminal charges in Turner’s death. We hope that this investigation is not just a ruse and that they are able to find some real answers into what happened to Raynette. We want justice for all of the women who “died under mysterious circumstances in jail” in recent weeks. Family Photo/Twitter

More here:
#BlackLivesMatter: NY Special Prosecutor Launches Investigation Into Death Of Raynette Turner, 1 Of 5 Women To Recently Die In Jail Cell