A 54-year-old Brooklyn man died after falling ill while held at a Brooklyn police precinct over the weekend, becoming at least the sixth person to die following a medical emergency in NYPD custody this year. Reginald Newkirk had been a prisoner at the 67th Precinct near East Flatbush when officers requested emergency medical help for him just before 2:15 p.m. on Saturday.
EMS rushed Newkirk to NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County, where he was later pronounced dead, according to PIX11. Police say Newkirk had been arrested on October 2 on a charge of criminal possession of a controlled substance and was taken to a hospital for medical attention after his arrest, per the NYPD. He was later taken to Kings County Hospital and remained there until his death, and the NYPD's Force Investigation Division is now investigating the circumstances, PIX11 reported.
Gothamist reports that Newkirk's death marks at least the sixth time this year that someone has died after a medical emergency in NYPD custody. Deaths that occur before arraignment do not trigger reviews by the public Board of Correction, the outlet notes, a gap that has drawn scrutiny from defense attorneys as the toll has climbed.
A Pattern of Deaths Tied to Booking and Holding Cells
Three people died earlier this year after being arrested and held in NYPD custody in Manhattan and Brooklyn, with at least two of the three facing low-level charges. The city medical examiner ruled all three deaths accidents and listed acute drug intoxication among the causes in each case, according to the same Gothamist report detailing the medical examiner's findings.
Those earlier deaths included Vincent Thoms, 51, who suffered a medical emergency in March while being processed at Manhattan's Central Booking, as reported by the New York Daily News. Zamiqua Miller, 33, died in Brooklyn Central Booking on April 10 after officers twice called EMS for symptoms of drug withdrawal; she was pronounced dead by EMS in the booking area six hours after returning from the hospital, the outlet's reporting on the medical examiner's findings shows. Days later, on April 18, Hector Sierra, 51, was found vomiting around 11 a.m. at Brooklyn Central Booking after being held overnight and was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
A 64-year-old homeless veteran also suffered a medical emergency at an East Harlem precinct stationhouse in August, and a 48-year-old man died in September, more than three weeks after a medical episode inside a Brooklyn Central Booking holding cell. That man had been arrested August 16 for possession of crack and a stolen credit card and fell ill while awaiting arraignment, the Daily News reported.
Custody Deaths Have Climbed Sharply Since 2022
The surge in deaths is not confined to this year. NYPD data shows 25 people died in custody in 2024 and 18 in 2023, according to THE CITY, compared with annual totals ranging from six to 12 between 2016 and 2022. Combined, the 43 deaths across 2023 and 2024 were roughly double the toll of any two-year stretch since at least 2016, the outlet found. Separately, the attorney general's Office of Special Investigation tracked twelve deaths in NYPD custody in 2024, per Gothamist's reporting, while the Vera Institute of Justice has counted seven deaths in city Department of Correction custody so far in 2026 — a distinct population from NYPD precinct and booking custody.
The rise has coincided with more people being held rather than released with tickets. In the first half of 2025, officers arrested more than 66,000 people for low-level offenses, yet fewer than a third received desk appearance tickets, according to THE CITY's reporting. Gothamist reported that arrests for ticket-eligible crimes climbed to 66,178 in the first two quarters of 2025, with the share of people held in custody rising to nearly 71 percent.
Public Defenders Push a 10-Point Plan
Public defenders have criticized the NYPD for holding people on low-level charges that are not eligible for bail while they wait to see a judge. Defender Services released a 10-point plan in 2025 calling for independent Civilian Complaint Review Board investigations of every death in police custody, medics stationed in arraignment courtrooms, and an end to quality-of-life policing that funnels more people into holding cells in the first place.
