Bill de Blasio

Zymere Perkins' Aunts File Notice to Sue NYC for His Death

The women claim authorities were "deliberately indifferent" to the years of abuse Zymere Perkins suffered

What to Know

  • Two of Zymere Perkins' aunts will sue New York City and city agencies for $10 million over his beating death
  • Zymere, 6, was beaten to death after years of abuse and repeated missing warnings by authorities
  • Zymere's stepfather is accused in his killing and may face homicide charges

Two aunts of Zymere Perkins, the Manhattan 6-year-old beaten to death after years of neglect, filed notice that they intend to sue the city, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the former head of the Administration for Children's Services.

Zymere died Sept. 26 after being hit repeatedly with a wooden broomstick and hung from his shirt on the back of a bathroom door by his mother's boyfriend, authorities say. The man, 42-year-old Rysheim Smith, became enraged when he saw that the boy had defecated in the living room of their Hamilton Heights apartment, according to a criminal complaint detailing the horrific abuse.

A damning mid-December report found that despite dozens of documented visits and contacts with the family, workers from ACS and the St. Luke’s preventive services agency dropped the ball, missing deadlines and failing to make sure Zymere saw a doctor.

The aunts' $10 million notice of claim, a required prelude to a formal lawsuit, was filed Tuesday morning.

"ACS and the other defendant agencies were deliberately indifferent to the abuse suffered by Zymere Perkins. They failed to take action over the course of at least five investigations that ACS itself conducted during Zymere Perkins’ life, starting on the day he was born in June of 2010," according to the claim.

City officials were not immediately available to comment on the claim. Late last year, De Blasio repeatedly decried Zymere's death and later said he would oversee an independent monitor to oversee ACS.

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