Aunt of 4-year-old boy whose parents are accused of starving him to death to sue city for $40M

The maternal aunt of a 4-year-old boy who prosecutors say was starved to death by his parents in their New York City apartment has filed a $40 million notice of claim alleging the city’s child welfare agency failed to protect his well-being and safety.

The notice of claim was filed Thursday on behalf of Nyisha Ragsdale, the aunt of Jahmeik Modlin, who died on Oct. 14 in the Harlem neighborhood. At the time of his death, Jahmeik weighed 19 pounds, which is in the normal range for a 1-year-old. The normal weight range for a 4-year-old boy is 30 to 44 pounds.

His parents, Nytavia Ragsdale and Laron Modlin, have been charged with second-degree manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child. Both are being detained at the jail on Rikers Island.

Nyisha Ragsdale alleges in her notice of claim, which is the first step in filing a lawsuit against the city, that the city’s child welfare agency, the Administration for Children’s Services, had been previously notified of malnourishment and neglect involving Jahmeik’s family, which includes his parents and three siblings.

A poster in memory of Jahmeik Modlin in New York City.NBC New York

Despite these reports and direct requests for assistance by the boy’s mother, the city and its child welfare agency “failed to take appropriate actions to investigate thoroughly and intervene,” the claim states.

The city and the agency did not substantiate earlier claims, the notice of claim says, and “neglected to remove Jahmeik from the harmful environment, which allowed his condition to worsen, leading to his death.”

The claim also says that the child welfare agency failed in its duty to monitor Jahmeik’s safety, “despite multiple reports of domestic violence, malnutrition, and unsafe conditions within the household.”

According to the claim, the city and the child welfare agency visited the home but failed to ensure the family was receiving the necessary resources or services and did not follow up adequately on the malnourishment claims.

“Their negligent supervision allowed the unsafe and unhealthy environment to persist, directly resulting” in Jahmeik’s death, the claim states. “The failure to act after prior investigations amounted to gross negligence.”

Nyisha Ragsdale, center, aunt of Jahmiek Modlin, speaks at a news conference in New York on Thursday.NBC New York

Stephanie Gendell, a spokesperson for the agency, declined to provide specific details about Jahmeik’s case, citing state confidentiality laws designed in large part to protect siblings in abuse cases like these.

She described Jahmeik’s death in a statement as a “terrible tragedy.”

“We mourn his loss,” she said, adding that the agency continuously assesses its work and would conduct an in-depth review of the case to “identify opportunities to strengthen our policies, practices, and services.”

“We will continue to proactively and transparently publish the results of these systemic reviews and the steps we take to strengthen the deeply important work ACS does with tens of thousands of children and families each day,” she said.

For comment on the notice of claim, Gendell referred NBC News to the city’s law department, which did not immediately return a request for comment.

According to the criminal complaint for Modlin and Nytavia Ragsdale, who are 25 and 26, at approximately 7:42 p.m. on Oct. 13, Modlin called 911 and said that Jahmeik was nonresponsive. When police arrived, Jahmeik and his mother were in the back of an ambulance, the complaint states. They were taken to a hospital, where he was declared dead at approximately 5:50 a.m. on Oct. 14.

Nytavia Ragsdale, Jahmeik’s mother, said in a statement cited in the criminal complaint that she had lived in the apartment in Harlem with Jahmeik, Modlin and her three other children, ages 5, 6 and 7, for about two years and that on the evening of Oct. 13, Jahmeik had appeared to be struggling to breathe and was unconscious. She said that Modlin had called 911 and, when emergency medical services arrived, she brought Jahmeik to them.

The apartment where Jahmeik Modlin lived in New York.NBC New York

She also said that she did the majority of the cooking and food shopping for the family and that no one else besides her and Modlin had cared for the children since they had lived in their apartment, according to the criminal complaint. She said that she fed all four of her children and never limited how much they ate, the complaint says.

Prosecutors said she provided varying explanations for Jahmeik’s physical condition and weight, including that she believed he weighed 100 pounds and that he must have lost weight from having been sick for the past few days. According to prosecutors, she said that for months he had been vomiting and then eating his vomit, and that she would only feed him small portions because he could not keep food down and had diarrhea a few times a week. Nytavia Ragsdale also said that none of her children had ever been enrolled in school or vaccinated and that she did not take them to the doctor unless it was an emergency, the criminal complaint states.

According to the complaint, doctors told police the other three children were “severely malnourished.”

Modlin said in a statement cited in the criminal complaint that he was the father of Jahmeik and the 5- and 6 year-old children, and that although he was not the biological father of the 7-year-old child, he cared for that child in the same way as he did the rest of his children.

A march held in memory of Jahmeik Modlin.NBC New York

He said that the children had only been to the doctor once since they moved to the Harlem apartment and that both he and Nytavia Ragsdale would buy food and cook for the children, the criminal complaint says. He also claimed that if the children ever asked for food, he would provide it to them and said that he must not have noticed Jahmeik’s condition because he is often playing video games or on his phone, the complaint says.

The complaint cites the Office of Chief Medical Examiner as having said that Jahmeik weighed 19 pounds at the time of his death, that his condition was “chronic” and that he suffered from dehydration, malnutrition and starvation. The city medical examiner did not immediately reply to requests for comment Friday.

The New York County Defender Services, which is representing Modlin, did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

A spokesperson for the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, which is representing Nytavia Ragsdale, said it does not comment on ongoing or active cases. 

Nyisha Ragsdale’s attorney, Sanford Rubenstein, has called for the New York City Department of Investigation to conduct an independent probe.

Rubenstein said Jahmeik’s three siblings are still in the hospital and are in the custody of the Administration for Children’s Services. He said Nyisha Ragsdale intends to seek full custody of them.

Nyisha Ragsdale is seeking compensation for physical pain and suffering Jahmeik endured, medical, burial and funeral expenses, as well as emotional and psychological distress suffered by the family in the wake of his death, among other damages.