A confrontation between a 15-year-old Bronx boy and his ex-con stepdad ended with the teen’s shocking and sudden death barely a month after the older man’s release from prison, authorities said.
Medics rushed victim Corde Scott unconscious from his family’s apartment in Westchester Square to Jacobi Medical Center after a Monday afternoon 911 call.
The teen, pronounced dead at the hospital, suffered bruises to the neck and throat, cop sources told the Daily News. Police were waiting for autopsy results to determine the cause of death after the stepfather told a story questioned by skeptical family members. Family told police Corde had asthma, though an autopsy indicated he did not die of an asthma attack, a police source said.
The 28-year-old stepdad “came out of prison one month, and now my grandson…” the victim’s devastated grandfather Winston Scott told The News, his voice trailing off.
“I haven’t slept yet,” added Scott. “I look in the mirror and there’s no white in my eyes. Just black and red. He was a good boy.”
The alarmed doctor who pronounced the teen victim dead personally called police afterward, sources told The News.
The dead boy’s uncle said the stepdad was in the emergency room when he arrived last night, telling relatives that Corde was throwing a tantrum when the teen suddenly stopped breathing and fainted. The stepdad insisted he was trying to calm the youth down before Corde collapsed, the uncle said.
“At the moment, [the stepfather] seemed like he was empathetic, saddened,” recalled Lavell Scott, 37. “It didn’t make sense with the story. … He didn’t have no cardiac history. So for a 15-year-old — for me, it didn’t add up all the way.”
Police questioned the stepfather at the hospital, according to Scott, with the mom answering their queries separately. No charges were immediately filed in the case.
Last month, Corde’s mother posted a video to TikTok of the family joyfully celebrating the victim’s 15th birthday.
The stepdad was conditionally released just last month after serving about 3½ years in state prison for a felony assault conviction in the Bronx, officials said. He previously had served more than 3½ years for an attempted-robbery conviction and was paroled in September 2015.
Police said the boy and the stepdad were in the apartment on Doris St. near Lyon Ave. when the pair became embroiled in an argument that may have turned physical. The mother, who was not at home, received a phone call from the stepdad after Corde’s collapse and told him to dial 911, according to relatives.
“She said by the time she got there that EMS was already performing CPR, and they intubated him on scene,” said Lavell Scott, adding the teen was rushed to the hospital.
The stepfather was questioned Tuesday inside the 45th Precinct stationhouse and later released.
Court documents indicate the stepdad pleaded guilty to assault and received a five-year sentence for an August 2018 shooting in which he was initially charged with attempted murder. His previous conviction led to a 2½ year jail term for a March 2011 robbery.
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