A 23-year-old mother was holding her 8-month-old daughter when she was pushed off a 15th-floor balcony in the Bronx early Tuesday. Nathaly Ramirez died. Her baby survived the fall, and police believe her mother’s body may have cushioned it.
The man police say did it, 31-year-old Angel Carrasco, is Ramirez’s ex-boyfriend and the baby’s father. He was caught late Wednesday at a friend’s house in the same neighborhood and is charged with murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and assault, Gothamist reported.
What happened on the Bronx balcony?
Police found Ramirez and her daughter on the ground behind the building on Olinville Avenue in Allerton around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday. Ramirez was pronounced dead at Jacobi Hospital. The baby was critically injured; Gothamist reported she was briefly upgraded to stable on Wednesday before going back to critical condition Thursday.
Neighbors told CBS News New York they heard screaming before the fall. “Just heard the mom begging and pleading, ‘Please don’t do this, look at my baby’s face,'” one witness said. “She thought that that would stop him from throwing her, and then all of a sudden, I just seen something tumbling,” CBS reported.
Did police know about him before?
Yes. Police said Carrasco was arrested in January for hitting Ramirez, according to Gothamist, and police sources told CBS the couple had a domestic-related history with officers. The NYPD and the U.S. Marshals’ fugitive task force tracked him down after a close acquaintance tipped off authorities.
When officers walked him out of the 49th Precinct on Thursday in shackles, Carrasco was smiling. People on the street shouted at him. “I am standing here, screaming at him, calling him a coward because why would you take a mother and a baby?” community activist Irene Estrada said.
Neighbors held a vigil Thursday night and released balloons outside the building, where a memorial keeps growing. U.S. Marshal Ricky J. Patel said his team “owed it to the brave mother who gave her life to save her child.”
Where can someone in an abusive relationship get help?
If you or someone you know is in danger, call 911. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is open 24 hours at 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788. In New York City, the city’s domestic violence hotline is 1-800-621-4673, and Family Justice Centers in every borough offer free, confidential help, including safety planning and legal help with orders of protection.
The BeezLoop Take
Ramirez’s neighbors are asking the question that comes up after almost every one of these killings: he’d already been arrested for hitting her in January, so why was he still able to get to her? We don’t yet know what happened with that case or whether there was an order of protection. Those are the first things investigators and the Bronx DA should answer publicly.
Domestic violence rarely starts with a killing. It escalates, and the warning signs are usually on paper somewhere. When a prior arrest doesn’t change the outcome, the system owes the family an explanation, and the rest of the city deserves to know whether the next woman in Ramirez’s place will be any safer.
The open question: what happened to the January case, and did anyone flag Carrasco as a danger to her?
Also on BeezLoop: two people locked themselves in a bathroom and called 911 during a family fight.
Sources: NBC News · CBS News New York · Gothamist · CBS News New York (video)
