Police: Father Arrested After Repeatedly Punching 5-Year-Old Daughter In Head
ELMONT, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A Long Island father who made headlines for abandoning his daughter in a Harlem fast food restaurant two years ago is in trouble with the law again.
The latest incident took place in Nassau County, where he is accused of repeatedly punching the girl, who is now 5 years old, CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reported.
In 2015, police said Stanley Frederique was in a drunken haze when he forgot his toddler and left her alone inside a Subway restaurant, setting off a region-wide search.
"I didn't leave my daughter, OK?" he said at the time.
He insisted he was a good dad, just forgetful and sick.
"You guys are not in my shoes. You guys don't have no idea what's going on," he said.
Frederique pleaded guilty to child endangerment and was ordered into drug treatment, and to stay away from his daughter, Natalie.
But Wednesday evening, they were together at Elmont Road Park. Several witnesses said he repeatedly punched her in the head with a closed first, pulled her hair and grabbed her wrist.
According to court documents, he told police, "I wanted to leave, but my daughter didn't. I pulled my daughter's hair. I'm from Haiti, that's nothing."
That statement left his Elmont neighbors shaking their heads.
"How could someone do that? How can someone harm a baby, an innocent child, let alone punch them?" one man said.
"It doesn't matter where you are from. I mean, how can you punch a child in the face? Come on." a woman added.
The child, suffering head pain, was later found with her mother at a nearby restaurant, where the woman works.
New York City's Administration for Children's Services would not say if it was monitoring the family, citing confidentiality laws.
Frederique faces assault and endangering the welfare of a child charges.
He's due back in court next week in the Harlem case. It was meant to be a check-in to make sure he was living up to his plea deal, but now his arrest in Nassau County is certain to be entered as exhibit A, Gusoff reported.
A judge ordered Frederique held on $100,000 bail, citing "a pattern of conduct against this child."
