Syracuse, N.Y. — Onondaga County has agreed to pay $100,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a woman whose premature newborn died in 2022 after she gave birth at the county jail in downtown Syracuse.
Cheree Byrd was being held at the Onondaga County Justice Center on a misdemeanor petit larceny warrant when she went into labor and gave birth on Aug. 2, 2022. The petit larceny charge by the Syracuse police was later dismissed.
In September 2023, Byrd filed a lawsuit against the county, the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, then-Sheriff Eugene Conway and jail medical providers NaphCare and Proactive Healthcare Medicine. She alleged her baby would have survived if she had received proper medical care…