Brooklyn day care worker beats her 4-year-old son to death with stick for dropping egg on floor

Strangers trust Zarah Coombs to care for their children — never suspecting that the Brooklyn day care worker could be capable of savagely killing her own son.

An enraged Coombs beat her 4-year-old son Zamair to death with a broomstick after the preschooler accidentally broke an egg on the floor of their Brooklyn basement apartment, sources said.

Coombs — who worked in a family-owned Bushwick day care center — waited 20 minutes with the dying boy stashed inside a water-filled plastic storage bin before finally calling 911 for help, according to a source.  The 26-year-old Coombs confessed to the Wednesday night beating and was charged with murder. She was led away in handcuffs as tears rolled down her face.But neighbor Ray Moore, 18, said the cold-blooded Coombs showed no such remorse as medics tried to save her son’s life

“She was just standing there like she just don’t care,” said Moore, who lives one floor up from the murder suspect in Brownsville. “I know if it was me, my mother would’ve been in the ambulance.

“That’s when you know something wasn’t right.”

Coombs was later placed on suicide watch.  The brutal killing occurred while Coombs was home alone with Zamair and two younger kids, waiting for her boyfriend to return from buying marijuana, sources said.

When the egg slipped from the small child’s hands, the mom lost her mind, grabbed the broomstick and beat the helpless little boy until he fell silent, sources said.

She then put the unconscious Zamair in the large bin inside the apartment bathroom, according to sources.

Coombs — raised in a family of 15 kids and the mother of four children — only summoned help when her live-in boyfriend, Jamari Richardson, returned home shortly before 9 p.m., cops said.

When cops arrived, they found the battered Zamair unable to breathe and foaming at the mouth, according to police and a relative. He was pronounced dead about five hours later at Brookdale University Hospital.

Cops said the boy had cuts, bruises and abrasions on his neck and body. The medical examiner, in ruling the case a homicide, found the cause of death was multiple blunt-impact injuries.

The city Department of Investigation immediately announced plans for a probe into the little boy’s death and whether the city Administration for Children’s Services played any role.

Hours after Zamair died, an Investigation Department summary report ripped ACS for botching the case of another Brooklyn boy, 3-year-old Jaden Jordan, who was beaten to death last month.

Coombs’ brother said ACS officials had stopped by the apartment several times before the death.

According to sources, ACS investigated a pair of allegations against the mom in 2015: Failure to provide medical care in March and inadequate supervision three months later. Both were deemed unfounded. Details of the beleaguered agency’s investigations were not revealed.

Police sources said there were also three prior domestic incident reports involving the mother — in 2002, 2006 and 2011.

Coombs’ family ran four day care centers, and state officials confirmed Zarah Coombs had been employed by their Leading Star Academy since February 2014.

A source indicated Coombs told investigators the fatal assault began because she was stressed out while caring for the victim’s two younger siblings — ages 1 year and 1 month.

Coombs’ brother said ACS officials had stopped by the apartment several times before the death  According to sources, ACS investigated a pair of allegations against the mom in 2015: Failure to provide medical care in March and inadequate supervision three months later. Both were deemed unfounded. Details of the beleaguered agency’s investigations were not revealed.

Police sources said there were also three prior domestic incident reports involving the mother — in 2002, 2006 and 2011.

Coombs’ family ran four day care centers, and state officials confirmed Zarah Coombs had been employed by their Leading Star Academy since February 2014.

A source indicated Coombs told investigators the fatal assault began because she was stressed out while caring for the victim’s two younger siblings — ages 1 year and 1 month.In a series of 2014 Facebook posts, the murder suspect wrote about her doomed son Zamair — in one case, adding a now-chilling photo in which he ate a breakfast of egg whites, toast and blueberries.

Coombs initially claimed Zamair died after she left him unattended inside the storage bin where her boyfriend found the child’s limp body, the sources said. She claimed she was tending to one of the smaller kids when he was injured.

Richardson tried unsuccessfully to perform CPR on the boy before police and EMTs arrived. Coombs was arrested after coming clean with detectives about what really happened, the sources said.

“I don’t even know how I feel, part of me is like, Zamair is going to come from around the corner and say, ‘Daddy.’ ” Richardson told The News. “Since I’ve been in the picture, there has been no foul play with these kids and if I had seen something that I didn’t think was right, I would of said something about it.”

Coombs’ brother Michael Thomas offered little support after the arrest.

“This is unacceptable, intolerable for you to kill a 4-year-old,” said Thomas. “A sister or not, she has to be held accountable.”

Thomas described the grim scene outside the apartment when he arrived amid the flashing lights and howling sirens of police cars and medical personnel.

“They were pumping on his chest,” Thomas, 53, said of his nephew. “When I saw them inserting the breathing tube, you know that’s bad. He was foaming at the mouth.”Thomas said he was initially told the little boy took a spill and cracked his head after stepping on some loose towels in the bathroom.

Coombs, who tried to hide her face behind her dredlocks at her arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court late Thursday, was also charged with manslaughter, acting in a manner injurious to a child and criminal possession of a weapon. She was granted emergency psychiatric care and placed on suicide watch. She must undergo a 30-day mental health observation.

The mom’s two youngest kids were both fathered by her current boyfriend, while Zamair and a 9-year-old child have different dads, sources said. Both dads are in jail.

The boy’s grandfather said he was kept away from Zamair by Coombs and Richardson. Asked if the couple were good parents, the grandfather demurred.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t want to get into that.”

via:  http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/mom-admits-fatally-beating-4-year-old-boy-brooklyn-home-article-1.2956011