The New York Police Department is investigating if the stepfather of a 2-year-old girl, Thaiya Spruill-Smith, has anything to do with the death of the child after they filed assault, reckless assault on a child and endangering the welfare of a child charges against the man.

The stepfather, identified as 25-year-old David Adams, admitted to police that he shook Thaiya and threw her on the bed. If the autopsy to be conducted on the girl would prove that his actions had a role in the tyke's death, the charges would like be amended to murder, reports the New York Times

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An ambulance took Thaiya from their apartment in Brownsveill to the Brookdale University Hospital on Thursday morning after Teoka Spruill, the child's mother, called 911 to seek help after Thaiya had difficulty breathing. A CAT-scan found that the child was bleeding from her brain. Hospital staff also found bruises on her arms.

Doctors declared Thaiya brain dead, although the child was kept on life support until she died at 7:30 p.m. of Friday.

Teoka married Adams in March. Since they lived together, the child had been abused for several months, relatives of Thaiya told the NYPD Child Abuse Squad, reports the New York Post. The girl's grandmother, Diane Howard, said that Adams picked up Thaiya and "shook her to death." Howard said that the stepfather was angry because Thaiya would not stop crying.

According to doctors who examined the kid's injuries, her brain damage and broken blood vessel behind the eyes were consistent with injuries due to violent shaking.

Prior to the Thursday incident, the NYC Administration for Children's Services removed Spruill's custody over Thaiya in September after the child's biological father complained of abuse, Howard disclosed. But the agency investigated and said the father's concerns were not well established, resulting in the mother acquiring again custody of Thaiya although the father had visitation rights.

Spruill is seven months pregnant with another girl, whom she promised to Thaiya that she would "stay strong for my daughter's unborn sister."

On Saturday, another young boy from East 163^rd Street died, apparently the victim of child abuse. The 3-year-old boy, Poseidon Quinones, had bruises on the head and body. He was brought to the Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center where doctors pronounced him dead at 2 a.m.

According to Poseidon's grandmother, she tucked him to bed on Friday night and checked on him at 1:40 a.m. on Saturday, but found him unresponsive. The NYC medical examiner is probing the cause of Poseidon's death.

TagsChild abuse, bronx, New York City, police