QUEENS — A 29-year-old New Jersey man has been arrested and charged in connection with the death of his girlfriend’s 4-month-old baby in South Jamaica earlier this year, police said.
Authorities said Tuesday that the Jan. 25 death has been reclassified, after the Medical Examiner’s office deemed the case a homicide.
When police officers responded to a 911 call shortly after 3 a.m. to a home on 144th Avenue, near Farmers Boulevard, they found little Javion Durett unconscious and unresponsive, officials said.
The boy was rushed to Jamaica Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
On Monday, police arrested Jhalil Williams, 29, the mother's live-in boyfriend, and charged him with second-degree murder and first-degree assault, police said.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said at a press conference Tuesday morning that "testing came back with subdural hematomas on the child.” Subdural hematomas, or bleeding on the brain, is consistent with head injury.
Boyce also noted that it's not unusual that testing took so long. "That’s happened before," he said. “Sometimes it’s better to wait and get the whole story.”
Williams, of Orange, NJ, who in 2014 was charged twice with criminal contempt, was arraigned on Tuesday night, according to the Queens District Attorney’s office.
"This is a truly horrific and disturbing case where a helpless 4-month-old infant was left in the care of the defendant who was the mother’s boyfriend," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement. "The alleged actions of the defendant are totally incomprehensible."
According to the criminal complaint, on that night Williams was left alone with the baby. Williams allegedly told investigators that at some point the boy started caughing and he tried to give him CPR but the boy became unresponsive. Williams did not call 911.
An autopsy revealed that the baby suffered from multiple hemorrhages which "are consistent with having been caused by traumatic, violent repetitive forces being applied to the ... head," according to the criminal complaint.
If convicted, Williams faces up to 25 years to life in prison, the Queens DA's office said.
Williams' attorney did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
