A Brooklyn mother accused of whipping her 9-year-old son with an extension cord had just learned the boy was planning on robbing a neighborhood store, her defense lawyer said Thursday.
Cops arrested Tsahay Nurse, 37, a pediatric nurse, after her son ran away from home and a stranger found him at a McDonald’s in Flatbush early Tuesday morning, according to a criminal complaint.
Nurse’s attorney, Samuel Getz, said at her Brooklyn Criminal Court arraignment that she denies the acts of violence against her son, but that she did confront him after a group of parents told her he had mugged another boy.
She then discovered a text message chain about the planned stickup on his phone, Getz said.
“They were conspiring to rob a local store by wearing a ski mask,” Getz said. “If he were to go and rob a corner store, he could be killed by police. … She was just a concerned, responsible mother.”
The boy told police that his mom hit his arms with an extension cord, punched him in the chest with a fist, then yelled at him, grabbed him by the neck and pinned him to the ground, according to the complaint.
The youngster had lacerations and redness on his arm, and his neck was in pain, police said.
Medics took the child went to University Hospital at Downstate for observation. His father accompanied him, cops said.
A police source with knowledge of the case told the Daily News Wednesday that Nurse became upset over a ski mask the boy had in his possession.
“She’s a single mother who is disciplining her kids because he did something that he wasn’t supposed to do,” the child’s great-aunt, Jennifer Braithwaite, told The News Wednesday.
Nurse faces felony assault and other charges. Judge Jacob Zelmanovitz ordered her released without bail Thursday, and issued a full order of protection preventing her from contacting her son. That order can be modified by a family court judge, he said.
Her son will live with other relatives, Getz told the judge.
Nurse and her family members declined comment outside the courtroom Thursday.
“She didn’t commit any crime,” Getz told The News. “She was just being a good parent.”
As for police arresting her, Getz said, “I’m not sure thy completely evaluated all the facts and circumstances. Maybe they thought they were erring on the side of caution.”
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