A 33-year-old Brooklyn father has been arraigned on charges including manslaughter, assault and criminally negligent homicide in the apparent beating death of his baby girl just before her second birthday, prosecutors and NYPD officials said Monday.
Robert Wright was taken into custody over the weekend after allegedly admitting to detectives that he punched his daughter, 2-year-old Aniyah Wyatt-Wright, in the back of the head. An autopsy found traumatic brain injury to the area of her head where Wright allegedly said he hit her, according to a criminal complaint.
Wyatt-Wright would have turned 2 on Oct. 6, two days after she was taken to Brookdale Hospital while suffering an apparent seizure. She was found to have bleeding on her brain and went into cardiac arrest, police said. The baby girl was transported to a children's hospital on Oct. 5 and died there.
The city's medical examiner determined that Wyatt-Wright endured blunt force trauma to the front and rear of her brain, and had significant bruising up and down her body, a police source previously said. Her death was ruled a homicide.
The Administration for Children's Services said it could not comment on whether the family was in its system, citing privacy laws.
"The safety and well-being of New York City’s children is our top priority. We are investigating this case with the NYPD and have taken steps to secure the safety of the siblings," an ACS spokesperson said.
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