A man accused of stealing power tools from a hardware store died in a cell in Brooklyn Court before a scheduled arraignment Friday, according to court records and police reports.
The man was identified as 32-year-old Soso Ramishvili and was detained by police at the Kings County Criminal Court Building in downtown Brooklyn. Authorities say he faces charges of small theft, possessing stolen property and cocaine.
Mr Ramishvili is scheduled to conduct arraignment on Wednesday morning after his arrest on Tuesday. The hearing this week was postponed several times and was rescheduled on Friday morning, court records show.
Police said then, just before Friday's scheduled appearance, Mr Ramishvili was found by police at 8:25 a.m. at 8:25 a.m., emergency medical staff were called to court and declared him dead, police said.
The cause of Mr. Ramishvili's death is not known. But police said he was taken to the hospital several times after being arrested.
Still, his death drew anger from lawyers and public defenders and re-criticized the treatment of people committing crimes in New York City.
“Ignoring law enforcement continues to show profound shock to New Yorkers,” the Legal Aid Association of Two public health organizations, and the Brooklyn Defense Attorney Services, said in a joint statement Friday. The groups also called for an “emergency, thorough and independent” investigation into the matter.
Legal aid says Mr Ramishvili has no lawyer because he has not been arraigned yet.
Authorities said a security guard saw Mr. Ramishvili pick up power tools and other items from the shelves of Home Depot near Old Mill Basin in Brooklyn on Tuesday morning, hiding them under his coat and walking out without paying. Authorities said the guard noticed Mr Ramishvili in the surveillance video that he said he had stole $213 worth of goods from the store. They said he was carrying a cocaine boat at the time.
Four other people have died in city jail this year or have just been released.
A woman detained in the Ricks Island prison complex was pronounced dead on Thursday after she was found unresponsive, according to the Department of Corrections.
Ariel Quidone, a 20-year-old accused of robbery, died in the hospital after the collapse of his Rikers cell earlier this month. Two other men who were held in New York City prison died the same week last month.
Mr. Ramishvili's friend Anna Papava said in an interview Saturday that he had moved to the United States from Georgia about two years ago. She said Mr. Ramishvili worked occasionally for the food delivery platform Doordash.
He lives in Brooklyn with a woman, and the two have a 10-year-old daughter together. Ms. Papava said the couple had recently broken up.
She said Mr. Ramishvili has been struggling since then and his behavior has begun to worry about his friends and family.
“He had some problems,” she said. “Mental problems.”
Ms Papava said members of Mr Ramishvili's family knew he was arrested this week on shoplift charges. But they learned that he died only after detectives knocked on the door and informed them on Friday.
Ms Papava said Mr Ramishvili, who lives in New York, was admitted to the hospital after hearing the news. She described her mother who lives in Germany as “the top of the mountain.”
Ms Papava said family and friends were eager to learn how and why Mr Ramishvili died.
“We were shocked,” she said. “What happened? No one knew.”
Maria Cramer Contribution report.
