A grieving grandmother and local clergy leaders rallied outside the 40th Precinct on June 16 to call for police accountability following the death of 2-year-old Montrell Williams of the Bronx, whose body was discovered in the East River on June 11. The boy’s father, Arius Willilams, 20, is now charged with his murder and had allegedly abused Montrell’s 17-year-old mother prior to the child’s death.
Rev. Kevin McCall of Kingdom Justice Church in Brooklyn led the press conference, accusing the NYPD of an alarming lack of urgency after the child’s father failed to return him to his mother after a planned visit on Mother’s Day weekend.
“A 2-year-old boy is not here today due to the neglect of the NYPD,” said McCall.
An NYPD spokesperson said in a statement that the child’s murder is an “absolute tragedy, and the NYPD extends our deepest condolences to his family. Our detectives are always committed to conducting complete and thorough investigations, and the arrest of Arius Williams is the first step in the pursuit of justice for Montrell’s death.”
Williams has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is being held without bail, according to court records. The Bronx Times left a voicemail at his attorney’s office and has not yet received a response.
At the press conference, Montrell’s grandmother said through tears that her daughter is graduating high school this week while mourning the loss of her son.
“He’s supposed to be here to see her, and he’s not,” she said. “I just want to get justice for my grandson.”
As for the boy, his grandmother described him as “a loving boy, energetic, always smiling” and “playful, joyful.”
“Everybody loved him,” she said.
Rev. McCall, who has worked closely with Montrell’s mother and grandmother following the tragedy, said that both the NYPD and Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) knew about the boy’s father’s record of abuse. Given that history, agencies should have immediately checked on Williams after he had failed to bring the child home, he said.
“Some heads need to roll,” said McCall. “It doesn’t take four weeks to find a father and a child.”
According to the reverend, the boy’s mother last saw him on Mother’s Day, May 11, when he left for a visit with his father, who shared joint custody. The father was supposed to drop off Montrell later that day but never showed up. Montrell’s mother repeatedly called Williams and his family to ask where her son was. She then called 911, who allegedly told her it was a custody issue, not a police emergency, according to McCall. “She hung up in disbelief.”
The boy went missing for nearly a month, as his family tried to take the issue to the NYPD and family court. The NYPD later determined that the boy had been murdered on May 10. However, they said the initial complaint was not filed with police until the 11th.
But at the press conference, McCall said he does not fully understand or trust the NYPD’s version of events and questioned why the situation wasn’t handled as a missing child case early on.
“Did any of y’all get an Amber Alert? No,” McCall said. “So, there’s something that happened. The police department dropped the ball.”
The reverend said the boy’s mother had to circumvent the NYPD and family court to do “her own investigation work” to find Williams.
By chance, she ran into him in the Bronx, where they both live, after Montrell had been missing for nearly a month, McCall said. When confronted, Williams allegedly “re-victimized” her, threatening her with a knife and claiming he threw the child into a river. Montrell’s mother and grandmother followed Williams into Manhattan, where he was arrested, the reverend said.
Cheryl Singletary, pastor at the Alpha and Omega Church in the South Bronx, said the boy’s mother, who is young and “in distress,” could not attend the press conference as planned.
“This should’ve never happened,” Singletary said. She began shouting, near tears, that pleas for help from Bronxites like Montrell’s mother too often go unheeded. “The system has failed us.”
“They don’t care about us,” said a woman who arrived with the clergy members. “This would not have happened if it was a child below 96th Street, and I’m sick and tired of it.”
The family is now securing an attorney and looking into legal options against the NYPD and ACS, said McCall.
“ACS knows the history and still gave the father some type of custody,” he said. “[The mother] has been a victim since Montrell was two months old.”
Since the boy’s murder, Williams’ own family has painted a complicated picture of his mental health and how he treated his son.
His stepfather told the media that Williams was a loving dad, but his aunt described him as “evil” and said he had made violent threats to various family members, who did not usually allow Williams to spend time with Montrell unsupervised.
At the press conference, Singletary implored people to heed red flags in others’ behavior — even from their own son, daughter or another loved one.
“Please, everyone. Watch what your children’s doing. Look at what your children’s doing. There’s too much violence going on in this world,” she said.
For Montrell, funeral arrangements are pending upon completion of an autopsy, said McCall. “He didn’t have a chance in this world because the NYPD neglected him.”
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
