Lee questions Tisch on woman giving birth in NYPD custody
Lee asks about a woman who gave birth while in NYPD custody. Staff clarify she was arrested for trespass with an open warrant, was uncuffed before giving birth, and was taken to the hospital per policy. Tisch declines to discuss specifics in open session.
A few questions about recent incidents.
So recently, I think it was the Gothamist reported a woman who was in NYPD custody, and you told me if the reporting is incorrect in any way, a woman in NYPD custody gave birth while in handcuffs.
And according to the Gothamist article, she was arrested on a low-level charge.
Something that could have potentially been a desk appearance ticket.
She was nine months pregnant and, yeah, gave birth while in custody.
Can you comment and provide any details on this?
That young woman, she was arrested for trespass, and we were unable to give her a disappearance ticket because she was wanted.
She had a warrant, an open warrant, and she did not give birth in cuffs.
Her cup, she was uncuffed by the time she gave birth.
Right, yeah, and I know there was a dispute on that on the article, but she gave birth in the courthouse.
Yes, hold on.
I will say, if I recall correctly, and I,
Wish that you that I knew that this was going to come up out of brought the specifics of that incident But my recollection is that she was brought to the hospital and was
released from the hospital and put back in our custody.
Yes.
Okay.
And what was the open warrant for?
And also, what's the policy when it comes to people or...
Individual
Who might be pregnant or have medical needs.
So, Chair, what we will do is we will follow up with you in writing about both the particulars of what occurred, and we can also provide you with any applicable policies.
We did not come prepared today to talk about the specifics of this.
The Chief of Department can speak about the policies, but what I don't want to do is talk in an open forum about a specific individual and a specific case.
So go ahead with the policy.
So the policy is to bring that individual to the hospital, which the policy was followed.
The hospital then released that individual back to our custody.
Okay, and what was the open warrant for?
Again, I don't want to discuss a specific individual's case in an open setting like this.
Okay.
So a few questions, a few final questions.
I know earlier you mentioned there's a new precinct in the borough of Queens.
What are factors that you take into consideration when determining whether to build a new precinct?