ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Kurdish man has died in suspicious circumstances while in police custody in New York City. Reports are that he died by suicide, but his friends dispute that account.
Musa Cetin, 29, originally from the city of Agri in southeast Turkey, moved to the United States in 2022 and settled in New York City, where he worked as a pedicab driver.
Last Friday, he was stopped by the police for a traffic violation. He was being held in a Manhattan police precinct station house. According to police, he was found unconscious in his cell and was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. It was reported that he had hanged himself.
"After he was detained, we heard that he had committed suicide and we did not believe it, so we went to the hospital. We still do not know how it happened," Mustafa Polat, Cetin's friend, told Rudaw. "They say he committed suicide, but as his friends, we do not believe anyone would commit suicide. We do not think it is possible."
Ismail Dogan, another friend, described Cetin as "very polite" and "good with everyone."
"He never had any problems. The police arrested him and then we heard that he had committed suicide. He was not the kind of person who would commit suicide. He worked every day," Dogan said.
Cetin's body will be repatriated to his hometown Agri in Turkey after an autopsy.
His death is being investigated by the New York police and his family and lawyer declined to speak while they wait for the legal procedures to end.
In the past two weeks, five people have died in New York police custody, according to the New York Times.
