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2 men die in NYPD custody after arrests for unlicensed pedicab and shoplifting food, officials say
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 3, 2025
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José A. Alvarado Jr./Gothamist
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 3, 2025
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Two men died in NYPD custody over the past several days after being arrested for driving an unlicensed pedicab and for shoplifting food, police said Tuesday.
Musa Cetin, 29, was taken into custody in Midtown Manhattan on warrants for unpaid fines tied to operating a pedicab without a license, according to police. NYPD officials said he was found hanged in his cell.
Cetin, who police said lived in Homecrest, Brooklyn, was a Turkish citizen who had recently applied for asylum, his lawyer said.
Police said officers last checked on him around 8:20 p.m. Friday and found him unresponsive less than 15 minutes later. Emergency medical workers took him to Bellevue Hospital, where he was kept on life support for two days before being pronounced dead Sunday, officials said.
In Brooklyn, 46-year-old Christopher Nieves was arrested Friday for allegedly stealing food from a Whole Foods in Williamsburg, authorities said. He was awaiting arraignment at Brooklyn Criminal Court when police said he suffered a medical episode around 10:15 p.m. that night.
The city's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is investigating the causes of death for both men. The NYPD’s Force Investigation Division is also reviewing the incidents.
The deaths come as city police and prosecutors step up enforcement of low-level crimes like shoplifting, with petit larceny arrests on pace to break records. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch has said she is not reviving broken-windows policing — the strategy of targeting minor offenses to prevent more serious crime — but she has made such arrests a priority under Mayor Eric Adams as part of an effort to make New Yorkers feel safer after pandemic-era concerns about safety.
Defense attorneys argue that arresting people for “crimes of poverty” doesn’t reduce crime in the long term and instead deepens cycles of incarceration. They said minor arrests can be especially precarious for migrants in New York City as the Trump administration cracks down on immigration.
“If you have a client who is already part of an overpoliced immigrant population — such as pedicab drivers or street food vendors — what might normally only be a simple stop by the police could suddenly turn into an entire new arrest if an NYPD officer sees that person already has an open criminal case,” said Brian Ehrenpreis, a lawyer with the nonprofit New York County Defender Services who previously represented Cetin.
Retailers have reported a surge in shoplifting since the pandemic. In response, prosecutors have offered training on how to increase penalties for thefts, which often involve low-dollar items and are usually prosecuted as misdemeanors that result in little to no jail time.
In the first six months of this year, police made more than 14,000 arrests for petit larceny, putting the NYPD on pace to surpass last year’s record of 27,000, according to police data. Complaints for petit larceny have fallen 10% since the pandemic, though they still remain 32% higher than in 2021.
While Adams and Tisch have touted record-low shootings under her tenure, they have repeatedly blamed criminal justice reforms enacted at the state level in recent years for recidivism and making streets unsafe.
Overall crime jumped after the pandemic and has been slow to recede under Adams and his first three commissioners, public safety data shows. Tisch said major crimes dropped 5% in the first half of this year, but they remain 28% higher than in 2021, according to NYPD stats.
Defense lawyers said the two deaths in police custody in the past week underscore the consequences of prioritizing low-level arrests. They argued policing alone cannot address the root causes of poverty, addiction and mental illness.
“Throw them in jail, throw them in jail, throw them in jail, but we don't actually get at what is causing the underlying behavior and attempt to solve that,” Arielle Reid, director of the Decarceration Project at the nonprofit Legal Aid Society, said.
Three others died in NYPD custody earlier this year, including a man arrested for shoplifting, a man arrested for drug possession and a woman arrested for assault, according to officials.
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new york city
public safety
Charles Lane
Charles is a Day-of reporter focused on breaking news and enterprise. He’s very friendly and can be reached at [email protected], or more securely on whatsapp/signal 631-295-6715
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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