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The incident happened on Thursday, Oct. 5 just before 4:40 a.m., when New Rochelle Police responded to a reported dispute on a fourth-floor apartment at 361 Main St.
According to New Rochelle Police Captain J. Collins Coyne, arriving officers were told that a 43-year-old man was inside the apartment with a young 2-year-old child while high on drugs and was in possession of a knife.
Officers then entered the apartment and saw the man lying on the ground while holding the child and the knife. He also had blood on his face, according to Coyne.
Police then attempted to de-escalate the situation and saw the knife fall from the man's hand as he grabbed the child closer to him. Officers instructed him to give up the child, but he allegedly refused and tried to pick up the knife again when police moved closer.
This prompted authorities to use physical force and a taser-like device to stop the man from grabbing the knife and to get him to free the child. After a continued struggle, officers were able to handcuff him and take him into custody.
Following the incident, the child was taken to a local hospital in stable condition with a two-inch laceration to their head. Additionally, two of the officers involved in the response were injured, with one receiving a small cut to the face and hand, and one sustaining a cut and bruise to his hand, Coyne said.
An investigation later determined that the suspect, identified as 43-year-old Lavon Mott of New Rochelle, had entered his ex-girlfriend's apartment while high on drugs and had grabbed the child, which was not his.
After his arrest, Mott was charged with:
- First-degree burglary;
- First-degree unlawful imprisonment;
- Second-degree assault;
- Second-degree reckless endangerment;
- Endangering the welfare of a child;
- Menacing a police officer;
- Resisting arrest;
- Third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
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