Relatives of a Bronx toddler who authorities say was killed by his father and who was missing for a month are considering legal action against New York City, accusing officials of mishandling the case, family representatives said Monday.
Outside the 40th Precinct stationhouse in the South Bronx, the Rev. Kevin McCall and other religious leaders criticized the NYPD’s handling of the disappearance of 2-year-old Montrell Williams and said the family is looking for a lawyer to mount a possible lawsuit. Prosecutors allege Montrell’s father, 20-year-old Arius Williams, threw the boy into the Bronx River after Montrell was last seen on May 10. Last week, police discovered a body in the East River that officials believe was Montrell. A judge ordered the father held without bail Thursday on murder and manslaughter charges.
“ The police department knew that this was a missing case and they failed the family,” McCall said. He described the desperate lengths Montrell’s 17-year-old mother went to in order to find Montrell after, officials say, Arius Williams failed to return him to her…