Child-welfare officials and other city bureaucrats were “deliberately indifferent” to the suffering of little Zymere Perkins before his fatal beating, according to a $10 million legal claim filed Tuesday by his aunts.
Shameka and Tanisha Perkins plan to slap Mayor de Blasio, former Administration for Children’s Services Commissioner Gladys Carrion and more than 20 other defendants with a federal suit over the abuse that killed their 6-year-old nephew, papers submitted to the city Comptroller’s Office say.
The “notice of claim” — a prerequisite for suing the city — cites a state probe that found ACS failed to protect Zymere by botching five abuse investigations before he was battered with a broomstick on Sept. 26 in a squalid Harlem apartment without electricity.
“Zymere Perkins additionally had numerous other contacts with other defendant agencies such as the New York City Board of Education and New York City Police Department, who turned a blind eye to his blatant misery,” the papers say.
His aunts also blast the “denials” of responsibility “at the highest levels,” specifically citing de Blasio’s claim before a state Senate committee last week that “the media are suggesting a fact pattern that does not exist” regarding ACS.
“Zymere Perkins isn’t the only one that has fallen through the cracks of the city’s broken child welfare system,” his aunts say, noting the subsequent deaths of 3-year-old Jaden Jordan in Brooklyn and 5-year-old Michael Guzman in Queens.
Their papers also refer to the findings of an exclusive Post report from December, noting how “ACS remains wasteful with more supervisors than field workers.”
Shameka and Tanisha Perkins each identifies herself as a “proposed administratrix” of Zymere’s estate, and say they hope “that through this lawsuit, serious reform is taken so that no child suffers the tragic end that Zymere faced.”
Shameka, 23, and Tanisha, 24, both of Brooklyn, are the younger sisters of Zymere’s mom, 26-year-old Geraldine Perkins, who was busted in his death along with her boyfriend, Rysheim Smith, 42.
The sisters’ lawyer, Abe George, said they knew Geraldine had been living in a homeless shelter but didn’t learn about the abuse of Zymere “until it was too late.”
George also called on Comptroller Scott Stringer to settle the case, as he did with the family of police chokehold victim Eric Garner, which got $5.9 million in 2015.
“The city knew the system was broken and failed to fix it,” George said.
“This little boy had his entire life ahead of him, but that was unfortunately cut short because of the city’s incompetence.”
Smith was indicted last week on second-degree murder and related charges, following the filing of a second-degree manslaughter charge against Geraldine.
A court docket shows she was charged by way of a “superior court information,” which allows defendants to avoid indictment and is generally used to strike a plea deal.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office declined to comment, saying the case against Geraldine was sealed.
Her lawyer didn’t return messages.
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