Today, the family of 2-year-old Montrell Williams announced a $60 million claim against the NYPD, accusing the agency of negligence in his death.
Montrell’s father, Arius Williams, 20, was charged with murder on June 12 after he failed to return the child to his mother, Cierra Carroll, 17, on May 10. According to court records, Carroll altered the police to the child being missing, along with Williams’ history of domestic violence, and asked for “urgent intervention” on May 11.
However, the department treated the issue as a custody dispute, not a missing child case, and Montrell’s whereabouts where unknown for nearly a month. The toddler’s body was found in the East River on June 11.
The $60 million Notice of Claim was filed Aug. 7 by Attorneys Shiraz Khan and Jose Anibal Baez and alleges that the 40th precinct “failed to take timely and reasonable action to locate and protect the child.”
Since the baby’s murder, his family has publicly accused the NYPD of failing to act with urgency as soon as the child went missing.
At an Aug. 8 press conference outside the 40th Precinct, Carroll spoke publicly for the first time.
“I shouldn’t have to chase them around in order to find my child,” she said.
Carroll, dressed in large sunglasses and a black hoodie and speaking barely audibly, recounted her desperate search for Montrell, during which she ran into the baby’s father on the street in Manhattan on June 8.
There, Williams threatened her with a knife and admitted to throwing the child into the river, according to court records. But NYPD only told her to stop following him, she said.
“After I told them he had a warrant, they said, ‘So what,’” said Carroll.
“And hung up the phone,” added Octavia Roane, Carroll’s mother.
Roane said the family made “several calls” to police while Montrell was missing “and nothing was done.”
“We shouldn’t have had to post our child’s picture on social media asking for the public’s help in May to find our child,” she said.
According to Roane, Montrell loved toy cars and was “just a happy baby, and he always wanted to be with his mother.” Officers would have acted with much more urgency if the situation were reversed, she said.
“If a police officer’s baby mother or baby father was outside with their kid with just a t-shirt and diapers, the whole force would’ve been looking for their child. The same should’ve been done here.”
Rev. Kevin McCall, who led the press conference, has supported the family since the tragedy and said the legal action should put the NYPD, and specifically the 40th precinct, “on notice.”
“They were very lazy,” he said. “This precinct has failed this family, has failed Montrell.”
Khan said the family “did everything they could” to sound the alarm about the child being in danger, but NYPD never issued an Amber Alert and largely dismissed them.
“While this child’s life was hanging in the balance, they were pushed to the side,” Khan said.
Although no amount of money can bring Montrell back, “Excuses stop today, and accountability begins now,” he said.
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
