{"id":172632,"date":"2026-03-23T21:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T21:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/172632\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T21:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T21:24:08","slug":"harlem-man-dies-while-in-nypd-custody-for-stealing-incense-from-cvs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/172632\/","title":{"rendered":"Harlem man dies while in NYPD custody for stealing incense from CVS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Harlem man died in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/2025\/11\/05\/nyc-jail-oversight-board-details-staff-breakdowns-five-2025-jail-deaths\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NYPD custody<\/a> waiting to be arraigned over accusations he stole incense from a CVS, authorities said Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Vincent Thoms, 51, was being processed at Manhattan\u2019s Central Booking, set to appear before a judge on the low-level petty larceny offense, when NYPD officers called emergency services at about 6:45 p.m. Sunday, officials said.<\/p>\n<p>He was transported to a New York-Presbyterian Hospital Lower Manhattan, where he was pronounced dead.<\/p>\n<p>NYPD officials declined to comment further or shed light on the nature of the medical emergency Thoms suffered. The department\u2019s Force Investigation Division is investigating his death.<\/p>\n<p>A police source said officers called EMS when Thoms was being combative and that he suffered two seizures after medics arrived. The source said he regained consciousness before suffering a third seizure and was then taken to the hospital.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are heartbroken to learn of the death of Vincent Thoms, who died yesterday in NYPD custody while waiting to be arraigned on allegations that he stole incense from a CVS \u2014 a low-level shoplifting charge. He spent his final moments languishing in a jail cell,\u201d the Legal Aid Society said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Thoms joins at least nine New Yorkers who died in NYPD custody last year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The public defender organization called on Mayor Mamdani, the city\u2019s district attorneys and all authorities involved in the criminal justice system to meaningfully address the deaths of New Yorkers under arrest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo one should lose their life while they are detained in NYPD custody,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Harlem man died in NYPD custody waiting to be arraigned over accusations he stole incense from a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,262,263,266,85,267,75,9,24,264,12,63,261,265,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-172632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-manhattan","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-crime","tag-sub-county-region","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}