The mother of a 2-year-old boy tossed to his death in the East River is suing the city and the NYPD for $60 million, accusing them of failing to try to save him when told he’d been taken by his father.
Cierra Carroll, 17, claims in a new complaint that police misclassified her call when she reported 2-year-old Montrell Williams missing in May.
“Montrell Williams should be here today if it wasn’t for the NYPD being neglectful in finding him,” family spokesman Rev. Kevin McCall said at a press conference, according to the Daily News.
Montrell was killed when he was thrown off a Bronx overpass on May 11, allegedly by his father.
“No amount of money will bring him back,” McCall said. “However, the NYPD has to be held responsible.”
Cierra said she called police on May 11 after Montrell’s father, Arius Williams, 20, failed to return him. But police blew her off when she called 911, she claims.
“They told me not to follow him and to go to the police to file a complaint,” Cierra told the Daily Mail. “I told the police that he had a warrant, they said, “So what?”‘
That official then hung up the phone, according to Cierra’s mother, Octavia Roane.
McCall first accused the NYPD of negligence in the case in June alongside Octavia, claiming police misclassified the 911 call as a simple custody dispute.
Arius is now charged with killing his son one day earlier by allegedly tossing him off a Bronx overpass and into the East River during a custodial visit with the toddler.
Cierra waited for her son to be returned outside a McDonald’s on Mother’s Day.
Montrell’s body was later recovered from the waters off Ferry Point Park in Queens.
Although police weren’t notified that Montrell was missing until a day after he was killed, the family said it took until May 28 for a warrant to be issued ordering Arius to produce the boy.
He even taunted Cierra when she questioned him about their son.
“Shut the f–k up,” he allegedly snapped at her. “I threw that n—gga into the river!”
Montrell’s family said the NYPD bears some blame.
“NYPD officers misclassified the call as a custody dispute, failed to initiate a missing child investigation, failed to issue an Amber Alert, and took no immediate steps to locate or safeguard Montrell,” the lawsuit said.
