A Bronx jury handed a 10-year-old girl and her family an eye-popping $20 million verdict in a civil case against a homeless shelter whose security guard dropped the child on her head when she was just 4 days old.
The jury ruled on the multimillion dollar prize deliberating for only an hour on Thursday.
“The horrified mother witnessed everything,” said Jeninlee Reyes’ attorney Jeremy Hellman.
Reyes was returning home to the Icahn House in the South Bronx shortly after giving birth in June 2003 when she handed little Imani Santiago over to security guard Christopher Salas. The elevator wasn’t working and because Reyes had a C-Section, she was not able to carry the baby to her second floor room.
Reyes asked if her husband, Pedro Santiago, could carry Imani, but the shelter would not allow him, according to court papers, because the home was for women and children only. The baby was in a stroller because the shelter did not have a crib for the Imani.
Reyes warned the guard before handing over her precious bundle.
“I said to Mr. Salas, ‘Be careful, you’re bringing my baby up the stairs,’” she said in legal papers.
About six steps up, Salas “jerked the stroller and tilted it,” that’s when baby Imani slipped out and struck her head on the concrete stairs.
The family’s been in a permanent home in the Bronx for the past 10 years. Pedro Santiago told the Post that his daughter has speech problems and is three grades behind in reading and math. Still, he wants her to live a normal life.
“My daughter is a strong girl, she’s a happy little girl,” he said.
Santiago said he will use the money to provide health care, better schooling and more speech therapy for his daughter.
Santiago added that if the Icahn House had a working elevator, which was still broken three months after the fall, the incident would never have happened.
“My daughter could have been severely brain damaged. It’s a blessing from God that she is able to walk, to talk,” he said.
The Children’s Rescue Fund, billionaire investor Carl Icahn’s foundation that runs the shelter, declined to comment.
Additional reporting by Julia Marsh