NY toddler attacked, hit in face with suitcase

“Hit me, I can fight back, my daughter can’t,” said the child's father.

May 11, 2021

A 2-year-old suffered a small laceration to her face after being assaulted with a suitcase by an unhinged man in NYC on Monday night.

The toddler was in a stroller and walking with her mother in Lower Manhattan when a random man approached them and hit the baby in the face with a suitcase, police reported. According to the New York Post, the child suffered bruising and a minor laceration. She was reportedly taken to New York Presbyterian-Lower Manhattan Hospital, where she was treated and released.

“Attacking my child – there’s no justification,” said the child’s father, Martin Fleurant. “Hit me, I can fight back, my daughter can’t.”

The family recently returned to the U.S. after spending time in Brazil during the COVID pandemic.

“We’re back two months and look at what happens. There’s no reason for that to be happening to my kid,” Fleurant said.

The 30-year-old suspect, Tyriek Martin, was arrested after the attack and taken to Bellevue Hospital for psychiatric evaluation, per the report. Martin reportedly lives at a homeless shelter on the Bowery. He has been charged with assault and endangering the welfare of a child, New York Daily News reports.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Connecticut, a 1-month-old boy was mauled to death by the family dog, described as a pit bull mix, on Monday evening. According to the Norwich police, the baby died at the scene. It’s unclear what prompted the dog to attack.

“Unfortunately, because of the nature of the incident, we haven’t been able to talk to the mother. She is distraught,” Norwich Lt. Anthony Gomes said, the Hartford Courant reports. “Our heart goes out to the family. This is just a tragic incident for all of those involved.”

“It’s very sad. Very tragic,” Mayor Peter A. Nystrom said.

“We don’t have any information to let us know why the dog did what he did,” Gomes said. “It was reported to be without warning.”

The suitcase attack and dog mauling follow another headline-making assault on an infant that occurred last month in Chicago, where a 21-month-old boy was critically wounded in a road rage shooting.

This April 2021 booking photo released by the Chicago Police Department shows Jushawn Brown. (Chicago Police Department via AP)

As theGrio reported, Jushawn Brown, 43, fired shots at another vehicle “during a road rage incident” while the baby was riding in the car with him on the city’s famed Lake Shore Drive.

Police said shots were fired at the car Brown was in, which crashed after the boy was shot in the temple.

Brown was arrested, and at the time, police were still searching for the second vehicle’s driver. A few weeks later, police found and charged 25-year-old Deandre Binion for attempted murder charges.

Earlier this month, doctors at Lurie Children’s Hospital said the young boy is out of intensive care and making “remarkable progress.”

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