A 1-year-old boy staying with his aunt in Brooklyn for the Jewish new year wandered into the bathroom during the night and drowned in the toilet, cops said today.
Mendi Altman was found around 11:30 p.m. Monday by his 13-year-old sister in the second floor apartment on Eleventh Avenue in Borough Park, and he was pronounced dead at Maimonides Hospital.
“She went to the bathroom and saw him facedown in the toilet with his feet hanging over the side,” a law-enforcement source said. “She screamed and pulled the kid out and other people came to help.”
The Medical Examiner has ruled the death an accident — though the Administration for Children’s Services is investigating a report of abuse or neglect regarding Mendi’s death, a spokeswoman said.
The boy’s father, who is in the Ukraine for the holiday, still hadn’t been told of the tragedy last night.
“He doesn’t know yet because you can’t call [on the holiday.] It’s so sad. It’s like a horror story,” said Gitty Weiss, 21, a special education teacher who lives in the building where Mendi died.
“We prayed harder today especially since such a horrible thing happened. We pray it never happens again.”
Mendi’s family traveled from Monsey to the home of his mother’s sister in Borough Park to celebrate the holiday, cops said.
The tot and his six siblings were put to bed around 9 p.m. The adults checked on him at about 10 p.m. and he was sleeping soundly, law enforcement sources said.
The sister found him 90 minutes later, and her anguished screams awoke everyone in the apartment.
The family called a Hatzolah ambulance, which transported Mendi to Maimonides.
Mendi’s uncle said the family is shattered by the accident.
“They’re in mourning,” he said. “It’s a terrible tragedy.”
Borough Park residents also felt the anguish.
“I’m a mother who feels his mother’s pain, said a woman who only gave her first name, Rivka. “I’m offering my condolences and hopefully they have the strength to carry on.”
Another neighborhood mother leaving synagogue said she heard the awful news during the service. “It’s devastating,” she said, adding that Mendi’s mother was staying with her sister because his father was out of town.
“Everybody’s horrified. Most of us are just hearing the news because of the holiday.”
Additional reporting by Josh Saul and Laurel Babcock