A shocked father said he made the difficult decision to remove his 2-year-old son from life support after a fire broke out in his Washington Heights apartment and left his toddler alone.
Police say 2-year-old King Riley Corporan was declared brain dead after his mother left him alone with his brother in their Audubon Street apartment on the night of March 20.
“I didn’t take my son down right away,” grieving father Francisco “Gus” Corporan said. told the New York Daily Newsexpressed shock at the mother’s decision to leave her helpless children alone. “That’s my son. I didn’t want to pull the plug. I couldn’t.”
The possibility that the baby’s organs could live on as a donor gave him hope, he told the newspaper.
“I said, ‘He may not be here physically, but he’s still alive,'” Corporan said. “Someone is alive because of him.
“My son is still here. He’s not with me, but he’s outside,” he added. “I know he’s still alive. [because his heart is still pumping in somebody else’s body.”
King’s 1-year-old brother is still in critical condition, “bravely fighting as he continues to receive medical care,” according to a GoFundMe, started for the family by the father’s coworker, Princiee Norvil.
King’s 8-year-old sister barely made it out alive.
The boy’s mother, Skilyn Maldonado, 23, was charged with three misdemeanors of acting in a manner injurious to a child, according to police.
At Maldonado’s arraignment prosecutors asked for bail, but a judge instead enrolled Maldonado in an alternative to incarceration program.
When the blaze started, the 8-year-old girl ran out of the apartment and banged on a neighbor’s door, pleading for help, a neighbor told the Daily News.
“She was saying there is a fire in her apartment,” neighbor Jayden Zorilla, 14, said. “My mom and I were trying to see if we can bring out the kids, but the couch was on fire. When I entered, the window glass broke and there was blazing fire.”
Jayden’s mother, Yokania Germosen, 40, wrapped Maldonado’s daughter in a blanket and asked her 10-year-old son Justin to take her downstairs.
Another neighbor told the News the mother had a habit of leaving her three children alone.
“She would just leave the kids home by themselves,” a neighbor, who wished not to be named, said. “She doesn’t have a job at all. She would leave them alone morning, day and night.”
The same neighbor said Maldonado and the children’s father could be heard fighting about the mother’s lifestyle.
“She’s young and wanted to enjoy her life,” the neighbor said about Maldonado. “[Corporan] I’m trying to get her out of the house for a bit. they are always fighting. You can hear him yelling, “Get out of the house!” You are not doing nothing. You stay out on the street and never come home! ”
Officials said Mr. Maldonado is scheduled to appear in court again on April 25.
