Said Saniyah’s mother Thomasina Cheatham, “She was happy and I was happy to see her.” The NYPD told Thomasina that Saniyah had used a sweater to choke herself to death, but the mother says her daughter did not have a sweater that day, which stands to reason because…it’s July…in New York.

“What happened to her? I don’t believe she killed herself,” said Thomasina. “Maybe she said something they didn’t like, they roughed her up. I don’t believe my daughter committed suicide.”

The medical examiner has not yet determined a cause of death, and the family is demanding that all security footage from the jail be released to the public, and the body camera video of the arresting officers be released as well.

Bronx News 12 spoke to Saniyah’s brother, Javan, who said that even news of her arrest was shocking because his sister was not a violent person or the type to initiate a fight.

“Saniyah’s not really a fighter,” Javan said. “She would rather talk to you first than hit you or start a fight with you or anything like that.” 

Something ain’t right and the math ain’t mathing. We will be following this story closely and will provide updates as they become available.