Police arrested and charged a Bronx woman with manslaughter Monday for fatally beating another woman at a city public hospital last month.
NYPD officials said 44-year-old Racquel Haughton is facing charges of manslaughter and assault for allegedly attacking 55-year-old Cynthia Vann in a room at Lincoln Hospital on Sept. 10. Vann remained at the hospital in critical condition for more than two weeks and succumbed to her injuries on Sept. 27, according to police. Officials ruled her death a homicide.
Police did not immediately provide details about where they arrested Haughton. At her arraignment Tuesday, a judge ordered her held in custody.
According to Vann’s family, she was undergoing liver treatment when she was attacked, and Haughton was her hospital roommate.
Vann’s daughter Taneisha Vann told Gothamist she found out what happened to her mother after receiving multiple missed calls from Lincoln Hospital in the early hours of Sept. 11. When she finally connected with staff, she said, the details were scant.
“They would just tell me about her condition medically, but they didn't tell me what was the reason for the head trauma,” Taneisha Vann said by phone Tuesday from her home in South Carolina. “When I found out she was in emergency surgery, I was shocked.”
She said Vann briefly returned to consciousness right after the attack and wrote two complaints to hospital staff: one indicating she had been beaten and the other mentioning it was her roommate who did it.
Police say Cynthia Vann was assaulted at the Bronx's Lincoln Hospital and later died from her injuries.
As Vann's condition deteriorated, prosecutors said Haughton was arrested on Sept. 11 for a different incident where she had allegedly assaulted a patient care associate at the hospital who was taking her vital signs. Haughton had also previously been arrested for assaulting another female staffer at Lincoln Hospital on July 19, prosecutors said.
According to the Bronx district attorney’s office, Haughton’s alleged attack on Vann came to prosecutors’ attention when she arrived at court on Sept. 11. But there was not enough evidence to move forward on that case at the time, so prosecutors deferred it pending further investigation.
Haughton was held at the Rikers Island jails for almost a week after her alleged attack on the hospital staffer in September, according to the DA’s office. Her defense attorney asked the judge to release her over the objections of prosecutors, and officials said Haughton was freed on Sept. 18, until her arrest Monday. It was not immediately clear why she was staying at Lincoln Hospital.
The lawyer who represented Haughton in the July incident did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Information about her attorneys for both September incidents was not listed in court records early Tuesday.
Vann’s family said the two women didn’t know each other. Police said they’re still investigating a motive in the killing.
Vann’s family has been speaking out about purported neglect at Lincoln Hospital, criticizing the facility for conditions they say allowed the attack to happen and for providing them with little information following the incident. Taneisha Vann said they’re working on filing a civil lawsuit against New York City Health and Hospitals.
“There’s no time to waste,” she said, adding that "everyone who was on shift that day” shares in the blame for what happened to her mother.
Health and Hospitals spokesperson Stephanie Buhle said in a statement Tuesday that Lincoln Hospital is “committed to the safety of its patients, staff and visitors,” but did not comment further on Vann’s death or the circumstances surrounding it.
Vann was a pillar of her Bronx neighborhood, where she helped run a community garden on Sheridan Avenue, according to her family. Her daughter said they were close, despite living several states apart.
“Not hearing from her every day is something I’m still processing,” Taneisha Vann said.
McCall, who was waiting for Haughton’s arraignment Tuesday on behalf of Vann’s family, said he led her funeral in Queens on Friday, before Haughton was arrested. He called the arrest “one step towards justice.”
“ Step two is going after the hospital and having the hospital held accountable for the death of Cynthia Vann,” he said.
