HARLEM — The aunts of 6-year-old Zymere Perkins are planning to sue the city for $10 million claiming a “blunder of errors” led to the beating death of the child.
Shameka and Tanisha Perkins filed a Notice of Claim Tuesday with the city Comptroller’s office, which is a precursor to a lawsuit, alleging the city and its agencies, namely the Administration for Children’s Services, the Department of Education and two unnamed agencies, failed to protect Zymere.
The aunts cite the damning report released late last year ordered by Mayor Bill de Blasio, which found that ACS and an outside agency contracted to handle child welfare issues systematically failed to protect the boy by not "completely and thoroughly" investigating "issues regarding the welfare" of the child, whose death was declared a homicide.
Zymere was “well within the safety net” of the city’s welfare agencies and would have been alive “had the city of New York and its social services network… functioned properly,” the claim reads.
Zymere, who lived in Harlem, died in September 2016 after Rysheim Smith, the boyfriend of his mother Geraldine Perkins, beat him with a wooden broomstick and his hands until the boy's body went limp, prosecutors said.
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Zymere’s death was ruled a homicide last year.
The initial autopsy in September 2016 showed Zymere had bruises on his torso, finger marks on his neck, several fractured ribs that had healed and a contusion to his head, according to the Medical Examiner.
The homicide ruling confirmed that the cause of death was “acute and chronic abuse and neglect.”
Three ACS employees involved with Zymere's case have been fired and another six employees have been suspended and demoted.
Zymere's aunts allege the welfare agencies “engaged in a pattern of misconduct” and the city “treated this misconduct with deliberate indifference.”
They also criticized de Blasio for defending ACS, calling his statement claiming “a picture is painted with the public that is not fair because the vast majority of the work of ACS is succeeding in saving children's lives,” made at a recent hearing, a denial at “the highest levels” of city government.
They also cite other ACS cases, including the death of 5-year-old Michael Guzman in Jamaica after his family had been visited 13 times by ACS and the case of a 3-year-old boy beaten and left brain dead in his Gravesend home.
The mayor’s office and ACS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
