Montrell Williams' family plans to take legal action against NYPD. Here's what they claim.
The grandmother of 2-year-old Montrell Williams spoke out Monday, a week after authorities recovered what is believed to be his body from the East River.
Prosecutors say his father threw him into the river alive sometime in May. Arius Williams, 20, has been charged with murder and manslaughter and is being held without bail.
Montrell Williams' family to take legal action against NYPD
The grandmother on Monday joined civil rights activists who say the family is planning to file legal action against the NYPD.
She described Montrell Williams as a "loving, kind, caring boy, playful, joyful," adding, "Everybody loved him and everybody is just heartbroken. Everybody is sad, heartbroken, just in disbelief that somebody would do this to a 2-year-old. He was just a baby."
She claims on Mother's Day, after the boy's father did not show up at the meeting location to return the boy, her 17-year-old daughter, the 2-year-old's mother, called 911.
The grandmother said dispatchers told her it was a custody issue, and it was only the next day in court that a judge issued a wellness check and an arrest warrant for the father to bring back the child.
When that didn't work, the family says police still told them the matter was in the hands of the courts and a missing persons case.
NYPD knew history of domestic violence in the home, Rev. McCall says
The Rev. Kevin McCall, who is representing the family, says weeks later the mother and grandmother even found the father at a nearby shelter and alerted police about the arrest warrant, but the NYPD allegedly didn't act. That's when the family allegedly followed the father into Manhattan and an officer there made the arrest.
"They called 911. She says, 'Listen, my son's father in this shelter. He has a warrant. He needs to be found. I haven't seen my son in three weeks.' They said, 'We're going to do what we can but we advise you not to follow him,'" McCall said.
McCall said the NYPD "knew that there was a history of domestic violence within the home, that within the home they knew that the father, the mother, the son, whether it was mental abuse or whether it was physical abuse, they knew that because of the history."
The family says the Administration for Children's Services knew the father's domestic violence history yet still gave him some type of custody. An ACS spokesperson said, in part, "We are investigating this tragic case with the NYPD."
ACS added state law prohibits the agency from sharing family information, and that Family Court has jurisdiction related to private custody.
NYPD's response and the latest on the investigation
Last week, Mayor Eric Adams said the police response was under review. The NYPD released the following statement on Monday:
"The murder of Montrell Williams 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," the department said.
Police sources say Montrell Williams was murdered on May 10, but the initial complaint was not reported to the NYPD until May 11.
Prosecutors say there is footage showing Arius Williams holding his child for more than an hour before throwing him off the Whitestone Bridge.
The medical examiner is still awaiting autopsy results.
