FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, December 9, 2016
Gravesend Man Arraigned on Indictment Charging Him
With Assault of Three-Year-Old Boy
Child Later Died From His Injuries
Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a Gravesend man has been indicted on multiple charges of assault and endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly beating his girlfriend’s three-year-old son. The child later died.
Acting District Attorney Gonzalez said, “Jaden Jordan was an innocent and helpless child who died senselessly, allegedly after a cowardly and inexplicable assault at the hands of this defendant. There is no excuse ever, under any circumstances, for attacking a child. This investigation is continuing and the charges are expected to be upgraded at a later date, following a final determination by the Medical Examiner.”
The Acting District Attorney identified the defendant as Salvatore Lucchesse, 24, of Gravesend, Brooklyn. The defendant was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Deborah Dowling on an indictment charging him with one count of first-degree assault, three counts of second-degree assault and one count of endangering the welfare of a child. The defendant was ordered held without bail and to return to court on January 27, 2017. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the top count.
The Acting District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, the victim, Jaden Jordan, 3, was left home alone with the defendant while the victim’s mother was at work, between roughly 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., on November 28, 2016. At some point while in the defendant’s care, the toddler allegedly defecated on himself. At approximately 4:30 p.m., emergency personnel responded to the victim’s home after the defendant called 911 and reported that the child was bleeding and unconscious.
The victim, found soiled and unresponsive, was taken to Coney Island Hospital and then transferred to Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center where he remained after falling into a coma. Later examination revealed that Jaden had sustained severe head trauma and injuries to his liver, consistent with a sharp blow to the abdomen. According to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the victim was removed from life support on Saturday, December 3, 2016, and died the same day. The fatal injuries are allegedly inconsistent with an accident, but instead inflicted by the defendant.
The case is being investigated by New York City Police Detective Janet Pena of the 61st Precinct Detective Squad and Detective Michael Habert of the Brooklyn South Homicide Squad.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Linda Weinman, of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Special Victim’s Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Kelly Casey, Deputy Bureau Chief, under the overall supervision of Assistant District Attorney Miss Gregory, Chief.
An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.
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