FILE – The city’s Medical Examiner’s office wheels out a body in Brooklyn.
Photo by Dean Moses
A Brooklyn woman who died while being held in the borough’s Central Booking on Sunday morning had been hospitalized twice days earlier after complaining of illness, sources told amNewYork Monday.
Police said Zamiqua Miller, 33, of Dumont Avenue in Brownsville was found unconscious and unresponsive while being held for booking at 120 Schermerhorn St. in Downtown Brooklyn at about 7:20 a.m. on April 12.
Officers contacted EMS who rushed to the scene; despite their efforts, paramedics could not save Miller, who was subsequently pronounced dead.
Sources close to the investigation told amNewYork that Miller had been arrested just after 10:30 a.m. Friday morning, Feb. 10, on charges of criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal possession of drug paraphernalia. She allegedly provided police with a false name; officers would discover one outstanding arrest warrant to that name.
Police said Zamiqua Miller, 33, of Dumont Avenue in Brownsville was found unconscious and unresponsive while being held for booking at 120 Schermerhorn St. in Downtown Brooklyn at about 7:20 a.m. on April 12.Photo via Google Maps
Twelve hours later, the sources said, she informed officers in Central Booking of her actual name, Miller; police learned that Miller had three outstanding arrests warrants pending.
Things took a bad turn the following day, April 11, when Miller complained of an illness to officers. Sources said police brought her to NYU Langone Health-Cobble Hill for examination, and she was discharged just before 2 p.m.
Four hours later, at about 6:35 p.m. on April 11, sources said Miller had become ill again; police brought her to NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. Medical staff would discharge her at 1:15 a.m. early the next morning, April 12. She was found unconscious in the holding cell five hours later.
According to sources, it is believed that Miller had experienced signs of narcotics withdrawal in both instances. The exact cause of her death is not yet known, pending the results of an autopsy, authorities reported.
The case has been presented to the NYPD Force Investigation Division, which is responsible for looking into in-custody deaths under the department’s care.