United States' first female Muslim judge found dead in New York's Hudson River

[webfact]

United States' first female Muslim judge found dead in Hudson River

By Ian Simpson

REUTERS

 

(Reuters) - A groundbreaking black jurist who became the first Muslim woman to serve as a U.S. judge was found dead in New York's Hudson River on Wednesday, police said.

 

Sheila Abdus-Salaam, a 65-year-old associate judge of New York's highest court, was found floating off Manhattan's west side at about 1:45 p.m. EDT (1545 GMT), a police spokesman said.

 

Police pulled Abdus-Salaam's fully clothed body from the water and she was pronounced dead at the scene. Her family identified her and an autopsy would determine the cause of death, the spokesman said.

 

Abdus-Salaam, a native of Washington, D.C., became the first African-American woman appointed to the Court of Appeals when Democratic Governor Mario Cuomo named her to the state's high court in 2013.

 

"Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam was a trailblazing jurist whose life in public service was in pursuit of a more fair and more just New York for all," Cuomo said in a statement.

 

The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History said Abdus-Salaam was the first female Muslim to serve as a U.S. judge.

 

Citing unidentified sources, the New York Post reported that Abdus-Salaam had been reported missing from her New York home earlier on Wednesday. Attempts to reach her family were unsuccessful.

 

A graduate of Barnard College and Columbia Law School, Abdus-Salaam started her law career with East Brooklyn Legal Services and served as a New York state assistant attorney general, according to the Court of Appeals website.

 

She held a series of judicial posts after being elected to a New York City judgeship in 1991.

 

(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Paul Tait)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-04-13

 

[craigt3365]

Horrible.  I sure hope they figure out what happened.  Absolutely terrible.  What a waste of a human life.

[Ramen087]

early indications show zero trauma to the body. with no signs of struggle at her last known location, sadly it appears her death was by her own choice and hand...

 

per a www.nypost.com story

Edited April 13, 2017 by Ramen087

[Foexie]

2 hours ago, Ramen087 said:

early indications show zero trauma to the body. with no signs of struggle at her last known location, sadly it appears her death was by her own choice and hand...

 

per a www.nypost.com story

Sure.

She can't be pushed in somewhere because that would leave a big trauma on het body. Neither can she somewhere be slipped walking near the riverside .

 

Must be suicide for sure.

[smotherb]

2 hours ago, Foexie said:

Sure.

She can't be pushed in somewhere because that would leave a big trauma on het body. Neither can she somewhere be slipped walking near the riverside .

 

Must be suicide for sure.

No, it cannot be suicide; her hands were not tied.

[retarius]

Why not wait for the autopsy report? Why this senseless speculation?

[psyvolt]

1 hour ago, retarius said:

Why not wait for the autopsy report? Why this senseless speculation?

It's a thai visa speciality. Facts are boring, making crap up is much more fun for bored Thai visa devotees.. Im just waiting for someone to say it was either a Thais fault, or that the Thai polices horrible policing could have prevented it if they wernt so lazy. (just the usual racist rants on these forums)

Edited April 13, 2017 by psyvolt
Added more text

[Ijustcashier]

Why not wait for the autopsy report? Why this senseless speculation?

It's a public forum where we gather to discuss stuff.
We are all speculating on nearly every thread.. Harden up or pull the plug. Easy

Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Scott]

6 hours ago, smotherb said:

No, it cannot be suicide; her hands were not tied.

Your getting mixed up, it's not being investigated by the Thai police.  

 

5 hours ago, retarius said:

Why not wait for the autopsy report? Why this senseless speculation?

Probably for the same reason that people speculate on which horse will win a race, which football team will win a match.   

 

It's the way people are.  

[chuang]

11 hours ago, Ijustcashier said:

It's a public forum where we gather to discuss stuff.
We are all speculating on nearly every thread.. Harden up or pull the plug. Easy

Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

LOL LOL LOL 

[Ramen087]

17 hours ago, Foexie said:

Sure.

She can't be pushed in somewhere because that would leave a big trauma on het body. Neither can she somewhere be slipped walking near the riverside .

 

Must be suicide for sure.

regarding inferences from the nypost (etc)... there was zero evidence this person acted against her will as per the story from more than one newspaper... why cast doubt that something else happened when there is zero evidence from any source to the contrary? 

[darksidedog]

And herein lies the difference between Thailand and the rest of the world. In this case, no speculation as to what happened. They will wait for an autopsy and investigate fully before making comment. Here the police would spout the first thing that came to mind and consider the case 90% closed already.

[Ramen087]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/12/nyregion/judge-dead-hudson-river-sheila-abdus-salaam.html?_r=0

 

from the new york times

[craigt3365]

14 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

And herein lies the difference between Thailand and the rest of the world. In this case, no speculation as to what happened. They will wait for an autopsy and investigate fully before making comment. Here the police would spout the first thing that came to mind and consider the case 90% closed already.

You missed the part of the picture with somebody pointing a finger, smiling police in the background. LOL

[craigt3365]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/nyregion/sheila-adbus-salaam-new-york-judge-hudson-river-committed-suicide.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-1&action=click&contentCollection=N.Y. %2F Region&region=Footer&module=MoreInSection&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&pgtype=article
 

Quote

 

The last time someone heard from Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam apparently was on Tuesday when she called her chambers in the Graybar Building in Manhattan to say she wasn’t well and would not be coming in. At some point, she had left her apartment in Harlem, law enforcement officials said, departing without her wallet and cellphone, and locking the door behind her.

......

The judge, 65, had recently told friends and a doctor that she was suffering from stress. And tragedy had followed her closely: On Easter in 2012, her mother committed suicide at age 92, according to two law enforcement officials. Two years later, around the same holiday, her brother shot himself to death, the officials said.

 

 

[Ramen087]

26 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

And herein lies the difference between Thailand and the rest of the world. In this case, no speculation as to what happened. They will wait for an autopsy and investigate fully before making comment. Here the police would spout the first thing that came to mind and consider the case 90% closed already.

I agree. 

NYC is a city in the US with a highly trained and competent police force.  They're sensitive to crimes against people based in religion, race etc. There is also significant public oversight. They're not perfect but there is most definitely an environment of accountability. 

NYC is a crowded place with a lot of public and private surveillance cameras that provide opportunity to review an individual on the street. If this person acted against her will, or was acting in an unusual manner, you would hope someone, somewhere would have taken notice and spoken up.

If this is proved to be suicide, it will most likely take everyone close to her by surprise, as it often does. People can conceal this well, or symptoms are often not picked up by others.  As craig's post shows, there can be other components involved. 

[smotherb]

9 hours ago, Scott said:

Your getting mixed up, it's not being investigated by the Thai police.  

 

Probably for the same reason that people speculate on which horse will win a race, which football team will win a match.   

 

It's the way people are.  

Mine was a facetious response to one of our keyboard sleuths who said it was not a suicide.  

One of the problems with the recent TV format change is not appending the post to which the response was made--it confuses so many people, many of whom need no help getting confused.  

[wprime]

16 hours ago, smotherb said:

No, it cannot be suicide; her hands were not tied.

 

It's in the US. It seems to be more a Thai cultural thing where people will tie their hands together before shooting themselves in the head a few times then jumping off the balcony.

[mrwebb8825]

So, the 1st Muslim woman judge who had decided to fix everything wrong with NYC was found floating in the Hudson. Sounds a lot like some posters that moved here and are now trying to fix everything wrong with Thailand.

 

Hmmmm....