HARLEM — A row of stuffed animals lined the outside of the building, lit up by dozens of burning candles.
“Spiderman” and “The Avengers” balloons bobbed in the wind beside sorrowful notes posted along the wall of the building, where authorities said Harlem’s “angel” — 6-year-old Zymere Perkins — who authorities said died after enduring months of neglect and abuse at the hands of his mother and her boyfriend.
“Baby boy, we couldn’t protect you in life, now you walk with the angels. We may not have fought for you when you needed us. But we will remember you,” one person wrote.
At a vigil Tuesday night, dozens of residents — some of which knew Zymere and his mother, Geraldine Perkins, and others who were struck by the boy's suffering — came to offer some semblance of healing for the community.
The mother and her boyfriend, Rysheim Smith, were arrested and charged soon after Zymere’s death with endangering the welfare of a child.
Officials said Smith beat Zymere with his hands and a wooden broomstick before he died. Zymere also had healed fractured ribs and also covered in bruises at the time of his death, the autopsy showed.
City and state officials have vowed to probe the Administration of Children’s Services after Perkins was investigated five times for abuse, but allowed her to keep the child.
Calvin Hunt, a West Harlem resident who organized the vigil, called on the neighbors to be more vigilant, saying the tragedy was preventable.
He said New Yorkers tend to walk around “with blinders on.”
“I’m not with that ‘see something, say something,’” he said. “If you see something, do something.”
He said someone, besides the city, could have stepped in if they heard or saw problems.
“We need to stick together as a community,” he said. “If we’re together, this would never happen again.”
“You didn’t leave here in vain,” a woman said the prayer. “Because god came down here and grabbed you.”
