Bronx family plans $60M suit, claims NYPD said 'so what?' when slain toddler went missing

The mother and grandmother of a 2-year-old who police say was thrown into the Bronx River by his father in May plan to sue the city for $60 million, accusing the NYPD of failing to investigate the boy’s disappearance.

Police found the body of Montrell Williams in the East River on June 11, nearly a month after he disappeared following a Mother’s Day gathering, according to authorities.

A Bronx grand jury indicted his father, 20-year-old Arius Williams, for second-degree murder and manslaughter after prosecutors said Williams was caught on surveillance video walking with the child before allegedly tossing him off a Bruckner Expressway overpass on May 10. The city’s medical examiner said Montrell died of drowning.

Williams pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.

Police officials said Montrell was murdered on May 10 but that the initial complaint wasn’t reported to the NYPD until May 11.

But at a news conference on Friday outside the NYPD’s 40th Precinct station in the Bronx, Montrell’s mother, 17-year-old Cierra Carroll, said she called police numerous times to report her missing son.

“They told me not to follow him and to go to the police to file a complaint,” she said. “I told the police that he had a warrant, they said, ‘So what?’”

“And hung up the phone,” added Octavia Roane, Carroll’s 35-year-old mother.

The warrant was issued by a family court judge several days after Arius failed to return Montrell to Carroll, the family said.

Carroll said she filed a formal notice of claim against the city on Thursday. The filing is a required procedural step before filing a lawsuit against a government entity.

As she spoke, Carroll was held by her mother and the Rev. Kevin McCall, a spokesperson for the family.

“She's very hurt right now,” Roane said. “The way the police responded, the way they acted towards us, no care in the world.”

During Williams’ arraignment, Montrell’s other grandparents said they filed at least five missing persons reports with the NYPD, but officers initially directed them to family court due to the couple’s custody arrangement. They said police only launched a full search more than a month later, after the boy's mother confronted Arius on the street.

Mayor Eric Adams said in June that the NYPD’s response is under review. An NYPD spokesperson said the department will review the lawsuit when it is filed. The city Law Department declined to comment.

McCall said the family filed a complaint with the NYPD’s internal affairs department.

Shiraz Khan, a lawyer representing Carroll and Roane in their lawsuit against the city, said the lawsuit was about holding the NYPD accountable for not taking action to find Montrell after the family called repeatedly.

“ They put them on notice that this child is in danger,” he said. “No Amber alert was issued at all. And, while this child's life was hanging in the balance, they were pushed to the side.”