(AP & WXXI News) The New York Attorney General's office is investigating the death of a 27-year-old Rochester woman whose health spiraled while she was held in a Buffalo jail for 16 days.
The investigation was requested by Erie County District Attorney John Flynn following a critical state report in June. It said India Cummings' 2016 death should be ruled a homicide due to medical neglect.
Sheriff Timothy Howard's office didn't immediately respond to Thursday's announcement by Attorney General Barbara Underwood.
Howard has challenged the findings of the Commission of Corrections report. It describes days of bizarre behavior by Cummings after police who were responding to a mental health call arrested her in Lackawanna.
Sixteen days later, Cummings was taken to a hospital, where she died of cardiac arrest caused by acute renal failure.
The Erie County D-A filed a motion following the release of the Commission of Corrections report requesting that either the Attorney General’s Office investigate Cummings' death or that a special prosecutor be appointed to the case.
In a statement Thursday, Flynn commended Underwood for opening the independent investigation.
