STATEN ISLAND — A Brooklyn woman found unconscious in a police holding cell died of a fatal overdose of heroin and fentanyl, hours after being revived from a previous overdose, the medical examiner ruled.
Nicole Garbellotto, 34, was determined to have died from an accidental overdose from a mix of fentantyl, heroin and alprazolam while inside a holding cell in the 120th Precinct on Dec. 8, the Staten Island Advance first reported.
Police said Garbellotto did not have any drugs on her when she was taken to the holding cell, but did not say if they found her with any inside.
Triborough Bridge and Tunnel officers first found Garbellotto, of Gravesend, passed out in the driver's seat of her car at the toll plaza of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge at 6 p.m. Dec. 7, the MTA said.
Emergency responders gave her the anti-overdose drug naloxone and took her to Staten Island University Hospital North, where she was treated and released into police custody, according to the agency.
She was charged with driving while intoxicated and operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs and taken to a holding cell in the 120th Precinct, the NYPD said.
Officers found Garbellotto in the cell unconscious at about 4:35 a.m. Dec. 8 and she was taken to Richmond University Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, according to authorities.
In January, Garbellotto's family filed a suit against the city to get more information about the incident and plans to pursue a wrongful-death suit against the city, their lawyer, David Rankin, previously said.
