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Bronx DA: Mom Killed 5-Yr-Old Son When He Broke TV While Playing Nintendo Wii

Jen Chung

Published Jun 21, 2011

Modified Jun 21, 2011

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Jen Chung

Published Jun 21, 2011

Modified Jun 21, 2011

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Last Friday, a 5-year-old boy died after police found him unresponsive in his family's Bronx apartment. Little Jamar Johnson's death was ruled a homicide and his mother, Kim Crawford, 21, was arrested. Now, Bronx prosecutors say that she dealt the fatal blows to the child because he broke the TV while playing with the Nintendo Wii game system.

According to the Daily News, Crawford told police that she hit Jamar on his back and stomach "harder than I've ever hit him" on June 13: "Crawford watched him vomit and complain of agonizing pain for five days as his internal injuries got worse. She never took him to the hospital because she feared getting arrested, she told investigators." Crawford allegedly said, "I was worried they'd see the bruises and I'd get in trouble," and the boy's death was ruled to be caused by an infection to a lacerated pancreas and intestine.

Crawford, who has an arrest history for drugs and assault "and a long history of domestic incidents with the boy's father," was charged with murder, but her lawyer said, "The facts do not establish at all that this mother tried to kill her child. I have no idea whether hitting someone with their hand causes these kinds of injuries. It's clear that for two days she was worked over by police." Jamar's paternal grandmother told the News, "Whether or not she did it on purpose doesn't matter, because my beautiful grandson is gone and he's not coming back. It's a tragedy. It's inexcusable."

There was an arrest in the death of another child, a 3-year-old girl, who died over the weekend. Edgar Algarin was charged with murder and manslaughter in the death of his girlfriend's daughter, Enidaliz Ortiz-Encarnacion. According to City Room, "The girl...was strangled and showed evidence of blunt-impact trauma, the city medical examiner’s office ruled on Sunday. The police say she had bruises on various parts of her body."

Tagged

broken tv

bronx

manslaughter

murder

nintendo wii

Jen Chung

Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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