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Vol. 78/No. 5      February 10, 2014

 
Speakout protests death
of woman in Brooklyn jail
 
BY DAN FEIN  
NEW YORK — “We want the names of the police officers on duty and the videotapes!” said Anita Neal Jan. 21, referring to the refusal of New York City police officials to release information on her daughter’s death in Brooklyn Central Booking jail.

Kyam Livingston, 37, was arrested July 20, 2013, for allegedly violating a protection order. She died in police custody the next day.

Neal was addressing a speakout on conditions in the jail and Livingston’s death, attended by 35 people at the Flatbush Reform Church in Brooklyn.

“My daughter experienced stomach pains and asked for help. The officers ignored her plea for seven hours. The girls in the cell helped her,” Neal said. “The officers killed my daughter. She would be alive today if she’d received medical attention.”

Among other speakers were Ashanta Livingston, Kyam’s sister; Dayann McDonough, Kyam’s god-sister and an organizer of the Justice for Kyam Livingston committee; and Djibrill Toure from the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement.

“Kyam begged for help for a whole shift. No one lifted up the phone,” McDonough said. “Mayor Bill de Blasio is unresponsive to the case. We’re supposed to have a justice system, but instead we have a punishment system.”

The Justice for Kyam Livingston committee is holding monthly protests. The next one will take place Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. at Brooklyn Central Booking, 120 Schermerhorn Street.

“This struggle is for everyone,” Neal said. “My daughter did not die in vain.”
 
 
Related articles:
26-minute-long Ohio execution fuels opposition to death penalty
Iowa cop Taser use was ‘100% police brutality’
Two shocked to death by officers in state last year
 
 
 
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