CRIME
Bronx DA Nixes Charges in Layleen Polanco’s Death
Victim is deadnamed; family attorney questions investigations into Rikers seizures
BY MATT TRACY
Bronx District Attorney
Darcel Clark announced
she will not
pursue criminal charges
in connection with the death
of Layleen Xtravaganza Cubilette-
Polanco, a transgender woman
who died in custody at Rikers last
June — and then the borough’s top
prosecutor shockingly deadnamed
her in a press release announcing
the news.
Clark’s offi ce wrapped up a
six-month investigation into the
circumstances surrounding the
death of Polanco, who died in “restrictive
housing” — a version of
solitary confi nement — at Rikers
Island on June 6, 2019, due to seizures
caused by epilepsy, despite
jail offi cials having been informed
of her health conditions.
An attorney representing the family of the late Layleen Xtravaganza Cubilette-Polanco is questioning
“so-called investigations” by the Bronx DA and the city Department of Investigation into her death.
Clark’s statement carefully delineated
the limits of what her offi
ce looked into in its investigation
of Polanco’s death, saying that “the
purview of this offi ce is not to determine
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whether it was a wrong
decision to place Ms. Polanco into
Punitive Segregation while she was
suffering from a documented seizure
disorder; the purview of this
Offi ce is to determine whether that
decision rose to the level of criminal
behavior.”
In the same press release, Department
of Investigation (DOI)
Commissioner Margaret Garnett
asserted in a written statement
that her team of investigators
worked with the Bronx DA’s offi
ce to “closely” examine “all the
facts” but “found no evidence of
criminal wrongdoing.” However,
she acknowledged that correction
offi cers failed to follow a Department
of Correction (DOC) directive
stipulating that every inmate
in punitive segregation be checked
once every 15 minutes.
Attorney David Shanies, who
represents Polanco’s family and
fi led a federal civil rights lawsuit in
response to her death, questioned
➤ LAYLEEN POLANCO, continued on p.43
Black Trans Women Slain in Philadelphia, Cincinnati
Dominique Rem’mie Fells, Riah Milton die one day apart in neighboring states
BY MATT TRACY
Two Black transgender
women were murdered
in back-to-back killings
on June 8 and 9 in Philadelphia
and a suburb of Cincinnati,
adding to an ongoing rash of
deadly violence disproportionately
targeting Black trans women nationwide.
Riah Milton, 25, was murdered
allegedly by teens seeking to rob
her in the Cincinnati suburb of
Liberty Township, Ohio, on June 9,
while the severed body of Dominique
Rem’mie Fells was discovered
the previous day in the Schuylkill
River in the Bartram Village section
of Philadelphia.
According to WLWT5, a local
news outlet in the Cincinnati area,
Milton was shot early in the morning
in the 6600 block of Spruce
Creek Drive. Butler County Sheriff
The body of Dominique Rem’mie Fells was found in the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia on June 8.
Richard Jones announced on June
10 that two people had been arrested
in connection with Milton’s
death. The pair and a third unapprehended
suspect allegedly lured
GOFUNDME
Milton to a location where they
sought to rob her, but wound up
shooting her to death. No details
regarding whether the alleged killers
knew Milton or how the interaction
that led to her death played
out have been announced.
One suspect, 18-year-old Kaelb
Marshall Tooson, was charged with
murder and aggravated robbery. A
14-year-old girl, whose identity remains
private, was also arrested
and charged with complicity to
aggravated battery, complicity to
murder, and tampering with evidence,
according to WLWT5. Cops
are looking for a third suspect,
Tyree Jeffrey Cross, for complicity
to murder, complicity to aggravated
robbery, and unlawful sexual
conduct with a minor.
As in many previous murder
cases of transgender women, media
outlets misgendered Milton,
and her sister, Ariel, who is also
transgender, said in a Twitter post
that Sheriff Jones did the same
thing.
➤ TWO MURDERS, continued on p.43
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