A Bronx family is moving to file a lawsuit after they say police left their teenage daughter alone in a cell with a sweater even after she told them she was suicidal, and did not intervene when she hanged herself.
The family filed legal papers Friday asking for a court order to compel the NYPD to preserve and turn over all records related to the case.
In a petition filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, attorneys for Saniyah Cheatham's family wrote that the NYPD’s failure to address the 18-year-old’s mental health conditions or monitor her while in custody “directly resulted in her untimely death.”
City medical examiners in July officially ruled Cheatham’s death a suicide.
Attorneys said Cheatham was experiencing acute mental distress when she was arrested on assault charges. After police

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