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Apparently being detained by police is a matter of life and death, especially for a Black woman. A mother of eight children was found dead in her jail cell in Mt. Vernon, NY. 

Reports the New York Daily News:

A 43-year-old Westchester County mother of eight mysteriously died in police custody — and her heartbroken husband is demanding answers.

“I want to know why I can’t hold her anymore,” said an outraged Herman Turner, 49, grieving over Raynette Turner, his wife of 23 years.

Raynette Turner was arrested Saturday after she was caught shoplifting inside Restaurant Depot in Mount Vernon.

After waiting the weekend to be arraigned, she died in a police holding cell Monday afternoon, police officials said.

Turner said he waited in court all day for his wife to be arraigned Monday and was told to come back the next day. He had just returned home when two detectives showed up to tell him his wife was dead.

Turner said their children — the oldest 21, the youngest just 8 — were “completely distraught.”

“I don’t know what happened,” he said. “They won’t give me a time of death . . . what happened . . . nothing.”

According to the New York Post, she was arrested for stealing a box of crab legs.

Reportedly, Turner complained that she wasn’t feeling well on Sunday and was taken to a hospital across the street (Montefiore Mount Vernon Hospital). She was returned to her cell a little over two hours later.

On Monday she was found dead at 2 p.m.. An autopsy has been scheduled.

Now is this going to get as much press as the news of a lion’s death? #staywoke

Photo: Turner Family