Cops: Child fatally beaten 'to make him act like a boy'
A Southampton man charged with killing his girlfriend's toddler son at a home on the Shinnecock Indian reservation said he beat the child "to make him act like a boy," according to a statement he gave to police.
State Police said Pedro Jones, 20, who had been baby-sitting the 17-month-old child Sunday night, killed him "by striking him several times throughout his body with his closed fists and grabbing him by the neck," according to court documents.
Jones, in a statement to investigators, said he did not intend to kill the child, police said.
"I was trying to make him act like a boy instead of a little girl," Jones told police, according to court records. "I never struck that kid that hard before. A one-time mistake and I am going to do 20 years."
Jones pleaded not guilty to first-degree manslaughter Monday in Southampton Town Justice Court. Justice Edward D. Burke Sr. ordered Jones held without bail. Evidence will be presented to a grand jury, officials said.
About a dozen members of the Shinnecock Nation appeared at the arraignment, and a woman who identified herself as Donna Collins Smith said she was the child's grandmother. Dressed in black, Collins Smith laid into Jones as he was led from the courtroom.
"You killed my grandson," she said. "I hope you rot in hell."
Another tribe member spit at Jones as he was led away in handcuffs.
Southampton Town police said they received a 911 call about 8:25 p.m. Sunday. State Police said the child was pronounced dead at 9:11 at Southampton Hospital.
As Jones was led away from the State Police barracks in Riverside Monday, he told reporters he killed the child out of "frustration and anger."
He apologized, saying: "I'm sorry. It's my baby. I love him to death."
State Police said Jones was not the father of the child.
Police have not identified the mother or the child. The fatality occurred at a residence on Old Point Road East, according to police records.
Jones is not a Shinnecock, according to tribe members.
A spokeswoman for the Shinnecock Nation declined to comment on the circumstances of the toddler's death, calling it a "private family matter."
Spokeswoman Beverly Jensen added: "It's a tragedy. The tribe is in mourning."
With Mark Harrington
and John Valenti
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