Harlem’s Little Zymere Perkins’ Death Ruled A Homicide

October 20, 2016

zymere-from-harlemThe city Medical Examiner has ruled that the 6-year-old Harlem boy who died Sept. 26 was murdered, and his death was caused by fatal child abuse syndrome.

Little Zymere Perkins’s body was a roadmap of pain and suffering, including fresh injuries and old scars from being beaten repeatedly. He was declared dead at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital.

“This cause of death means that the child had evidence of acute and chronic abuse and neglect that ultimately led to his death,” Julie Bolcer, a spokeswoman for the city Medical Examiner said.

 The boy’s mother, Geraldine, 26, and her boyfriend, Rysheim Smith, 42, were arrested on child endangerment charges that could be upgraded to murder.

After her arrest, Perkins told police that since January, her boyfriend regularly beat Zymere with his fists and a broomstick and picked the child up by the neck.

Last week, the Administration for Children’s Services suspended an assistant commissioner, a borough commissioner and two other top officials in the agency’s general counsel’s office for dropping the ball on the investigation.

Prior to that, five others were placed on modified duty. The Daily News identified them as Nitza Sutton, Alanna Davis, Frances Okeke, Lydia Rosado and Renee Lawrence.

Sutton, 48, a child protective specialist, closed Zymere’s case after just 12 days this past April when she learned she was getting promoted from investigator to supervisor – even though she took photos of injuries on the boy’s body, according to child welfare sources who saw the his file.

Between the summer of 2015 and April, ACS investigated five abuse and neglect complaints regarding Zymere, but took no steps to remove him from the hellish home.

The child was remembered at a funeral funded by the city.

Read the entire article here.


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Harlem World Magazine, 2521 1/2 west 42nd street, Los Angeles, CA, 90008, https://www.harlemworldmagazine.com. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
We're your source for local coverage, we count on your support. SPONSOR US!
Your support is crucial in maintaining a healthy democracy and quality journalism. With your contribution, we can continue to provide engaging news and free access to all.
accepted credit cards

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Articles