FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Brownsville Father Sentenced to 4 to 12 Years in Prison for
Shaking 7-Week Old Daughter, Causing Child’s Death
Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a Brownsville man has been sentenced to four to 12 years in prison following his manslaughter conviction for violently shaking and throwing his infant daughter causing her to suffer brain swelling, bleeding on the brain and in both eyes.
Acting District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant failed in his responsibility as a parent which was to protect his child from harm. He must now spend time behind bars knowing that he caused his daughter’s death and robbed her of a future. This case should once again serve as a reminder that never, under any circumstances, should a child be shaken.”
The Acting District Attorney identified the defendant as Eryk Ford, 24, of Brownsville, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today to four to 12 years in prison by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Vincent Del Giudice following his conviction on August 10, 2016 of second-degree manslaughter following a jury trial.
The Acting District Attorney said that, according to the defendant’s own admissions, on January 15, 2012 at approximately 5:50 a.m., Aniyah Ford, 7-weeks old, was crying in the living room of the defendant’s apartment when the defendant picked up the child and violently shook her. The defendant, the victim’s father, then threw the child into her car seat that was on the floor nearby. The child’s body went limp and she eventually stopped breathing, according to the investigation.
The defendant waited approximately 10 minutes before checking on the child and another 40 minutes before calling 911. The victim suffered from brain swelling, subdural and subarachnoid hemorrhaging and retinal hemorrhaging, according to the New York City Medical Examiner. She died on February 8, 2012.
The case was prosecuted by First Deputy Bureau Chief Frank DeGaetano and Senior Assistant District Attorney Lindsay Ashwal of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Miss Gregory, Bureau Chief.
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