WEST HARLEM — A Long Island man accused of walking out on his 3-year-old daughter at a Subway sandwich shop last month was arraigned Wednesday on felony child abandonment charges.
Stanley Fredrique, 34, bought his daughter a foot-long turkey sandwich at a Subway on 124th and St. Nicholas Ave. on Saturday, July 11, then deserted her at 11:30 p.m., Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said.
He was arrested a day later in Brooklyn, Vance said. He also faces a misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child, according to the indictment.
Fredrique told police he self-medicates his bipolar disorder, and that his world “went fuzzy” at the Subway.
“I don't remember leaving Subway,” the Elmont native told a detective, saying he came to in a cab in Brooklyn. “I borrowed the taxi driver's phone to call home. I looked over and realized the baby wasn't with me.”
His daughter, who authorities haven’t named, was OK. A customer saw the girl sitting by herself and began a fruitless search to find her father, Vance said.
When he didn’t turn up, the pair went to the nearby police station, the prosecutor said.
“Child abuse doesn’t always involve violence,” he said, thanking the good Samaritan for intervening on behalf of the little girl “before any further harm befell her.”
Fredrique was arrested in Brooklyn Sunday morning, nearly 12 hours after leaving the Subway, after he grew agitated inside a taxi and the driver got the attention of police officers, according to the DA.
Fredrique’s attorney didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Speaking with police before he was arrested, Fredrique said he lost his daughter — he didn’t abandon her — at the Subway after buying her shoes during a day of shopping, according to court documents. It was the last thing he remembered before finding himself in the cab in Brooklyn the next morning, he said.
“I have medications but I don't take any. I drink every day because of it. You don't know what I've been through,” Fredrique told police.
He said he's been forgetful since an incident when police killed his dog, nearly shooting him and his brother as well, according to the documents. He said he hadn't taken medication in more than a year.
And Fredrique was incredulous at being arrested, he told police: "But I looked for you guys. I love my daughter."
