Cops Mistook Bushwick Man's Ashes For Heroin: Suit

BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN — Cops burst into a Bushwick home and seized what they thought was heroin but turned out to be the ashes of a late family member, according to court filings and reports.

Lucia Santiago, 65, accused police of raiding her Starr Street home on Feb. 19 2018, handcuffing her family and seizing the ashes of her husband Miguel, according to her lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Santiago, her son and grandson watched as more than a dozen officers tore through their home and grabbed the ashes, which were sealed inside small vials inside an airtight capsule, according to the suit.

Her son, Nelson Santiago, told the New York Post the ashes had been divided so that family members could carry his memory with them on necklaces.

“He wanted for his grandkids to have a piece of him," he reportedly said, "and his children, me and my mother, nephew and son."

Police charged Santiago, one of her sons and two grandsons with possession of a controlled substance and ammunition after they found bullets that Miguel had once collected, but the charges were later dismissed, court records show.

Nelson, who works for the Department of Education, was suspended from his job and lost access to health benefits which provided him, a diabetic, with insulin, according to the complaint.

And according to the suit, the ashes have yet to be returned.

Police told the New York Post that the search resulted from a legal search warrant and did not confirm what substance had been seized.