LES Baby's Death Ruled Homicide 1 Year Later, Cops Say

LOWER EAST SIDE, NEW YORK -- A Lower East Side baby's death was ruled a homicide almost one year after police found him lying face down and cocooned in blankets, according to police.

August Tinnin was 8 months old when his mother returned home and found him unconscious inside their Rutgers Houses home at 45 Allen St. on March 22, 2018, police said.

Claude Tinnin, the 20-year-old father who had been looking after August, later told investigators he wrapped a blanket around his son's face and body, according to the criminal complaint.

Tinnin also told investigators he ran away when emergency responders arrived because a restraining order forbade him from coming near August or his mother, court records show.

Emergency responders rushed the infant to New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Lower Manhattan where he was pronounced brain dead and passed away one day later, according to police.

An emergency room doctor told police August suffered a heart attack likely caused by a brain injury and, months later, the Medical Examiner's office ruled the boy had been smothered, said prosecutors and police.

Tinnin was arrested the day of August's death is currently standing trial in Manhattan Criminal Court on assault and aggravated criminal contempt , prosecutors said.

Chant’a Parker, Tinnin's attorney from the Harlem Neighborhood Defender Services, did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment.

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