Man Charged For Putting A Gravesend Child In The Hospital, On Life Support
As of last night, the 3-year-old Gravesend boy who was on life support at Coney Island Hospital after being found in his home covered in feces, with a fractured skull, and lacerations to his kidney and liver was transferred to New York Presbyterian Hospital – Columbia in Manhattan after losing brain activity, as first reported by the Daily News.
Police have charged the child’s mother’s boyfriend, Salvatore Lucchesse, 24, with four counts of assault, and endangerment of a child. Lucchesse was brought into the 61st Precinct for questioning earlier in the week. He originally told police the child, Jaden Jordan, had slipped in the tub.
The City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) were at Jaden’s West 5th Street home on Saturday, two days before he was rushed to the hospital, to investigate an anonymous tip about Lucchesse, but ended up doing nothing, sources told the News.
The News was able to reach out to Jaden’s father, Guseyn Aliyev, 37, for what must have been a heartbreaking interview at his Gravesend home, blocks away from where his son was mangled, possibly to the point of no return.
“He’s most likely brain dead, all the signs show it,” Aliyev told the News. “There’s no coming back. Even if he lives, he will most likely be a vegetable.”
The ACS was tipped off by an anonymous source that a girl was locked in a dog cage, but the tipster accidentally gave them the address of the apartment next to where Jaden was spending what might be his last moments, according to the News.
“The NYC Administration for Children’s Services is saddened by this upsetting news,” an ACS spokesperson said. “We are investigating the circumstances that led to this incident.”
ACS wouldn’t confirm the tip or detail the investigation. Lucchesse might not have even been questioned when they were there on Saturday, said the News.
“He kept the kids in a dog cage, used a pit bull to terrify them,” a law enforcement source told the News. “He’s a real menace.”
Neighbors have heard fighting and crying coming from the family’s apartment ever since they moved in about six weeks ago.
“I heard the man screaming, ‘Am I hitting you? I’m not even hitting you right now and you’re crying?’” one neighbor, Busria Codurogu, said. “I didn’t realize it was this bad.”
Jaden’s mother, Raven Chaynes, posted pictures of him on Facebook showing injuries to his forehead. These pictures were prior to this tragedy.