Raynette Turner, 42, was found dead in a Mount Vernon, N.Y., cell Monday, and her family is seeking answers and justice.
The mother of eight was arrested and taken into custody after she allegedly shoplifted at a wholesale food store on Saturday, according to The Journal News.
On Sunday, Turner complained that she was feeling unwell and was taken to a local hospital for treatment. The hospital treated Turner for high blood pressure for about two and a half hours and she was later returned to jail.
Information about what happened between the time she was returned and the time she was found dead is unclear, and her husband, Herman Turner, has been unable to get additional information about the circumstances leading to her death.
"I don't know what happened," he said, according to The New York Daily News. "They won't give me a time of death...what happened ... nothing."
The case raises questions about whether Turner should have been kept in jail over the weekend and whether she was adequately cared for while in custody, according to Fusion.
"[The police] have a special obligation take care of [Turner]," said Karen Smith, a former New York acting civil supreme court judge. "Depending on what the police knew about her medical condition, it would be negligent on their part not to look after her."
The family's attorney, Osvoldo Gonzalez, believes that the police were indeed negligent in Turner's care, questioning the Mount Vernon Timeline and believing that she didn't receive a full checkup.
"That's amazingly fast for a hospital visit," he said of the emergency room stay, according to the New York Daily News. "Two hours in a hospital is like one minute. Obviously whatever they did, it was not helpful to her."
A city spokeswoman said an investigation into what transpired was underway and an autopsy was slated to determine what killed her.
Herman Turner said his wife "was as strong as a bull."
"She had no medical issues," he said. "She had a little high blood pressure, but that was it."
This is the latest instance of someone dying while in police custody. Earlier this month Sandra Bland and Rexdale W. Henry were both found dead in their cells after they were arrested by police.
