A New York City man is behind bars facing murder charges in connection with the death of his 3-year-old son that occurred late Sunday night.
Shaquan Butler, 26, was also hit with manslaughter charges after a medical examination revealed that the toddler was a homicide victim who succumbed to blunt force trauma to the torso that triggered a heart attack.
The boy’s mother, who was on probation for grand larceny at the time of the incident, allegedly lied to detectives, claiming that the child choked on a chicken nugget and struck his head against the floor.
The couple was reunited with their three kids last month after they were placed into city custody for a few weeks.
Officers found the boy covered in bruises and unconscious with a faint pulse at a Queens shelter where he lived with his parents and two siblings.
“Right now, it’s too much. We are going to speak up when we figure out what’s happening,” the child’s great-grandmother said.
Butler, who has a lengthy rap sheet of nearly 30 arrests, is believed to have committed a series of brutal beatings on the preschooler.
Upon his arrest, the father reportedly told detectives he’d be better dead. His grandmother described him as a “kind person.”
