The body of the first black woman appointed to New York state’s highest court was found floating in the Hudson River off Manhattan on Wednesday afternoon, police said.
New York Police Department officers responded to a call of a person floating in the river near West 132nd Street and Henry Hudson Parkway just after 1:45 p.m., authorities said. Sheila Abdus-Salaam was found unconscious and unresponsive in the water, according to police. Her body showed no obvious signs of trauma, and they declined to speculate on the cause of her death. Police removed her body from the Hudson River and transferred her to a nearby Fire Department on West 125th Street. She will be transferred to a medical examiner’s office.
Abdus-Salaamwas elected to the Supreme Court of the State of New York in 1993, where she remained until 2009. The 65-year-old Manhattan resident was currently serving on the New York State Court of Appeals. She was appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2013 becoming the first Muslim female judge in the United States.
