TOT HORROR IN HIGH-RISE
A 4-year-old is found DYING in an empty tub with BRUISES & CIGARETTE BURNS. His DAD’S in jail & his MOM lost custody. The NANNY says it was an ACCIDENT.
A 4-YEAR-OLD boy died after being found unconscious in the care of a baby-sitter in a Hell’s Kitchen apartment Wednesday — and his body was marked by cigarette burns and defensive wounds, police sources said.
Police found Myles Dobson unresponsive when they arrived at the apartment in the Ritz Plaza, a luxury doorman building on W. 48th St., near Eighth Ave., following a911 call at10:50 a.m., police said.
The boy was pronounced dead at St. Luke’s Hospital.
The baby-sitter, a 37-year-old woman, was interviewed by detectives for several hours, the sources said.
The caregiver, who lives in the building — where two-bedroom rentals start at $5,295 a month, according to the building’s website — told police she had placed Myles on a counter in the bathroom, then left the room briefly, the sources said.
She said she heard a noise, ran back into the bathroom, and found the boy in the tub, unconscious, the sources said.
There was no water in the tub, sources said.
Investigators had questions about the woman’s story, because the child’s skin was pocked with burns that were consistent with being poked with a lit cigarette, and his body had wounds that appeared to have been sustained while he tried to defend himself, sources said.
His body was also bruised, the sources said.
The medical examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
“It looks like we’re going to charge her,” a police source told the Daily News, cautioning that a decision had not been made because the investigation had just begun. “It’s too early.”
Myles had lived at the residence since December, police said. It was not clear who his legal guardian was.
Officials at the city Administration for Chil Children’s Services, which has previously investigated complaints involving the boy, according to police sources, were also looking into Myles’ death.
The child’s mother previously lost custody, police sources said. Custody was then granted to the child’s father, Okee Wade, 37, who is imprisoned in New Jersey after being busted as part of crew that allegedly withdrew hundreds of thousands of dollars at Atlantic City casinos from other peoples’ bank accounts.
Residents of the apartment building were stunned bythe tragedy.
“I have a baby, too . . . that’s scary,” a woman who was pushing a child in a stroller told The News outside of the building. The woman, who said she was a tenant, added that building officials had not told residents anything about the child’s death. “They just said there’s a police investigation,” she said.