RIKERS INMATE IS DEAD IN CELL
A sock is stuffed in his mouth
A Rikers Island inmate who was found dead in his cell had a compression sock in his mouth, the Daily News has learned.
Correction and NYPD investigators are trying to figure out how inmate David McPeck died Aug. 27 inside the Anna M. Kross Center.
No other inmates were spotted on surveillance cameras going into his cell throughout the night, according to a jail insider. The city medical examiner's office has not determined the cause of death.
McPeck, 43, a construction worker, was found “unresponsive” by an officer conducting a morning check at 8:21 a.m., according to the Correction Department's internal initial report.
Jail officials believe he may have used the sock to choke himself to death.
But his sister and a medical staffer who works in the facility questioned that premise, saying McPeck would still be able to breath out of his nostrils.
Christine Steeghs, 46, his older sister, also pointed out he was previously locked up and never tried to hurt himself.
“Most family find it hard to accept a suicide outcome because he surely would have done it long ago knowing his past circumstances,” she said.
His death occurred six days after he was arrested by the NYPD after he allegedly yanked an emergency brake on a southbound No. 2 train Aug. 21.
The ex-con required a catheter to urinate due to an injury he suffered after falling off a train platform several years ago, according to his family.
In his cell, he was wearing Depends absorbent underwear, the family was told. He was placed in medical units during prior jail stints, Steeghs said.
“Why if a guy needs a catheter to pee was he in Depends?” she asked.
The Correction Department declined to comment on details of McPeck's death, citing an ongoing investigation.
McPeck was born in California and moved to New York when he was a young teen after his parents divorced.
“He loved to write, draw and cook,” his sister said. “He had the patience of Job.”
But he struggled to stay out of trouble and apparently had a drug problem, records show.
After his Manhattan arrest, prosecutors discovered he was wanted in New Jersey for aggravated assault. He allegedly threw “gel beads from a dirty diaper covered in urine and blood” at a registered nurse in an unnamed medical facility on May 10, 2017, according to the criminal complaint.
He also struck the nurse in the cheek and smeared blood and urine on her face and hair, prosecutors said.
Seven days earlier, James Booth, a former chaplain at the Atlantic City Rescue Mission, found a bloodied McPeck lying outside the group's office.
McPeck said he was attacked and robbed by three men when he walked out the backdoor of the Showboat casino.
“They beat him up pretty good,” Booth recalled.
Booth took him to the hospital, where he was treated and released after a few hours. But a few days later, McPeck showed up outside Booth's mother's house drunk and high on crystal meth, and was arrested.
“He was ranting and raving,” Booth said.
McPeck later briefly stayed at the rescue mission, which offers a host of services, including drug rehab.
Now, his family wants answers as to what happened on Rikers.
“He wasn't a violent guy,” his sister said. “He got into trouble because he was hard up for money.”