The aunt of a four-year-old boy who prosecutors say was starved by his parents in their New York City apartment has filed a $40 million claim alleging the city’s child welfare agency failed to ensure his well-being and safety to protect. .
The claim was filed Thursday on behalf of Nyisha Ragsdale, the aunt of Jahmeik Modlin, who died Oct. 14 in the Harlem neighborhood. At the time of his death, Jahmeik weighed 19 pounds, which is normal for a 1-year-old. The normal weight range for a 4-year-old boy is 30 to 44 pounds.
His parents, Nytavia Ragsdale and Laron Modlin, have been charged with second-degree manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child. Both are being held at the Rikers Island jail.
Nyisha Ragsdale alleges in her letter of claim, which is the first step in filing a lawsuit against the city, that the city’s child welfare agency, the Administration for Children’s Services, was previously notified of malnutrition and neglect affecting Jahmeik’s family was involved, including his family. parents and three siblings.
Despite these reports and direct pleas for help by the boy’s mother, the city and its child welfare agency “failed to take appropriate steps to thoroughly investigate and intervene,” the claim says.
The city and agency failed to substantiate previous claims, the notice of claim said, and “failed to remove Jahmeik from the harmful environment, which worsened his condition and led to his death.”
The claim also says the child welfare agency failed in its duty to monitor Jahmeik’s safety, “despite multiple reports of domestic violence, malnutrition and unsafe conditions within the household.”
According to the claim, the city and child welfare agency visited the home but failed to ensure the family received necessary resources or services and did not adequately follow up on the malnutrition claims.
“Their negligent supervision allowed the unsafe and unhealthy environment to continue, which directly resulted” in Jahmeik’s death, the claim states. “The failure to act after prior investigation amounted to gross negligence.”
Stephanie Gendell, a spokesperson for the agency, declined to provide specific details about Jahmeik’s case, citing state confidentiality laws that are largely designed to protect siblings in abuse cases like this.
She described Jahmeik’s death in a statement as a “terrible tragedy.”
“We mourn his loss,” she said, adding that the agency is continually reviewing his work and would conduct an in-depth review of the case to “identify opportunities to strengthen our policies, practices and services.”
“We will continue to proactively and transparently release the results of these systemic reviews and the steps we are taking to strengthen the critically important work that ACS does with tens of thousands of children and families every day,” she said.
For comment on the claim letter, Gendell referred NBC News to the city’s legal department, which did not immediately return a request for comment.
According to the criminal complaint against Modlin and Nytavia Ragsdale, who are 25 and 26 years old, Modlin called 911 on Oct. 13 around 7:42 p.m. and said Jahmeik was unresponsive. When police arrived, Jahmeik and his mother were in the back of an ambulance, the complaint states. They were taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at about 5:50 a.m. on October 14.
Nytavia Ragsdale, Jahmeik’s mother, said in a statement cited in the indictment that she had lived in the Harlem apartment with Jahmeik, Modlin and her three other children, ages 5, 6 and 7, for about two years and that she had evening On October 13, Jahmeik appeared to be having difficulty breathing and was unconscious. She said Modlin called 911 and when emergency medical services arrived, she brought Jahmeik to them.
She also said she did most of the cooking and shopping for the family and that no one other than her and Modlin had cared for the children since they lived in their apartment, the complaint said. She said she fed all four of her children and never limited how much they ate, the complaint said.
Prosecutors said she gave several explanations for Jahmeik’s physical condition and weight, including that she believed he weighed 100 pounds and that he must have lost weight because he had been ill in recent days. According to prosecutors, she said he had been vomiting and then eating his vomit for months, and that she would only give him small portions because he couldn’t keep food down and had diarrhea a few times a week. Nytavia Ragsdale also said that none of her children had ever gone to school or been vaccinated and that she did not take them to the doctor unless it was an emergency, according to the complaint.
According to the complaint, doctors told police that the other three children were “severely malnourished.”
Modlin said in a statement cited in the criminal complaint that he was the father of Jahmeik and the 5- and 6-year-old children, and that although he was not the biological father of the 7-year-old child, he provided care for them. child in the same way as he did with the rest of his children.
He said the children had been to the doctor only once since moving into the Harlem apartment and that both he and Nytavia Ragsdale would buy food and cook for the children, according to the complaint. He also claimed that if the children ever asked for food, he would give it to them and said he did not notice Jahmeik’s condition because he often plays video games or is on his phone, according to the complaint.
The complaint quotes the Office of Chief Medical Examiner as saying that Jahmeik weighed 19 pounds at the time of his death, that his condition was “chronic” and that he suffered from dehydration, malnutrition and starvation. The city medical examiner did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.
The New York County Defender Services, which represents Modlin, did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.
A spokesperson for the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, which represents Nytavia Ragsdale, said it does not comment on pending or active cases.
Nyisha Ragsdale’s attorney, Sanford Rubenstein, has called on the New York City Department of Investigation to conduct an independent investigation.
Rubenstein said Jahmeik’s three siblings remain hospitalized and in the custody of the Administration for Children’s Services. He said Nyisha Ragsdale plans to obtain full custody of them.
Nyisha Ragsdale is seeking compensation for, among other things, the physical pain and suffering Jahmeik endured, medical expenses, funeral and burial expenses, as well as emotional and psychological distress suffered by the family following his death.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
