Ma, stepdad cuffed; ACS mum on eyeing fam
A BRONX woman and her husband were arrested for beating and choking her 8-year-old daughter, authorities said Tuesday.
The girl told police that her stepfather, 21-year-old Curtis Younger, choked her until she passed out, cop sources said.
Her mother, 26-year-old Tyesha Younger, had punched the girl in the neck at their Manor Ave. apartment in Soundview on Saturday, court papers state.
The girl told police that her mother and stepdad then woke her up by dousing her with a bucket of ice water, sources said.
She later told police that, on another day, the pair handed her a gun and bullets to play with as a toy, the sources added.
The girl told her grandmother about the abuse on Sunday. The grandma, 50, then took the girl to the 32nd Precinct stationhouse in Harlem.
Police arrested Tyesha and Curtis Younger later that day, and charged them with acting in a manner injurious to a child, criminal obstruction of breathing and assault — all misdemeanors.
Authorities took four other children found at the Bronx home into the custody of the city Administration for Children’s Services, police sources said. Cops did not find a gun.
Both suspects were released without bail.
In a statement, ACS said, “We are deeply concerned about the allegations involved in this disturbing case. ACS, along with the NYPD, is currently investigating.” The agency would not comment about whether ACS had probed the family prior to the arrests.
No one answered the door at the family’s apartment Tuesday.
There have been two recent high-profile incidents where young children died at home.
The agency came under fire two months ago after the death of 6-year-old Zymere Perkins.
Zymere died Sept. 26 after being beaten with a broomstick in his Harlem apartment. His mother, Geraldine Perkins, 26, and her boyfriend, Rysheim Smith, 42, were hit with endangerment charges related to the boy’s death.
Last week, 3-year-old Jaden Jordan died after he was allegedly beaten by his mother’s boyfriend.
Jaden turned 3 on Nov. 27, two days after authorities received an anonymous tip that the boy had been shut inside a dog cage and menaced by a pit bull. But ACS received the wrong address — they went to the home next door — and left without taking any action.
The ACS worker figured out the right address Nov. 28, the same day emergency workers took Jaden to Coney Island Hospital with a fractured skull. He was taken off life support and died Saturday.
Police charged Salvatore Lucchesse with four counts of assault and endangering the welfare of a child. The charges are expected to be upgraded to murder.