A baby girl was clinging to life Saturday after allegedly being punched in the head by a Bronx man, police said.
Jerome Thomas, 19, was hit with first-degree assault and child endangerment charges for allegedly slamming his closed fist into the one-year-old’s head inside a Woodstock apartment around 2:30 a.m. Thursday, cops said.
When police responded to a call about someone needing help, they allegedly found Thomas, a 25-year-old woman and the battered baby, who was semi-conscious, inside the Union Avenue apartment, authorities said Saturday.
The infant was taken to Harlem Hospital in critical but stable condition, police said.
It’s unclear whether the woman or Thomas are the baby’s biological parents, or what the relationship was between the two adults, police said.
NYPD detectives were seen hauling evidence bags out of the apartment Saturday afternoon.
Neighbor Nicole LaCroix said the trio was new to the building, and she was under the impression Thomas and the woman were dating.
“I spent a little time with the mother, and I guess the boyfriend one night, just because they were new to the area, and we were just showing them where some of the stores are and different things like that. Being helpful, as a neighbor, because I’m a little older than the young lady,” said LaCroix, who recalled spending time with the infant.
“I held the baby, you know, because we spent a little time with each other. She was playing with my phone – she was an active one year old.”
LaCroix said her daughter heard “arguments” coming from the trio’s apartment, and she wished she would have “stepped in and helped.”
Another neighbor who only gave the name Maurice called the stomach-churning incident a “shock.”
Thomas pleaded not guilty to the charges during his arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court Saturday, where a judge ordered him remanded without bail.
His next court date is Sept. 4.
His lawyer could not be reached for comment.
