Paterson mom charged with taking hammer to car with kids inside
The video shows a woman smashing man's car windows with children inside in what police call a custody dispute.
PATERSON – In a rampage captured on video, a 31-year-old Paterson woman apparently used a hammer to smash the windows of a parked vehicle on Sunday afternoon while her two young children were inside crying.
City police said they charged the woman, whose name they would not release, with endangering the welfare of a child, domestic violence and criminal mischief.
The children's father, who was inside the vehicle, recorded the mother's actions and called police, authorities said. His name also was not released.
The incident happened at about 12:45 p.m. on East 24th Street, near 21st Avenue, according to Capt. Richard Reyes. The woman had left the scene by the time officers responded, so police filed complaints against her but did not arrest her, authorities said.
The mother apparently was upset over a custody dispute, police said.
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The video shows her walking around the vehicle slamming a hammer into the windows and sending glass flying. She also smashed the headlights and at least one side-view mirror.
At different points in the video, the man said to the woman in Spanish, "You cut the baby! You cut the baby!”
Meanwhile, the children were crying and saying, “Papi,” or "Daddy."
Someone in the background was also yelling in Spanish, asking how the woman could do that to her kids, and threatens to call the police, calling her a bad mother.
Then the father says to her in Spanish, "You're going to rot in jail, you hear?" She replies, “Take care of the kids, OK?”
At the end of the video, the woman reaches inside the vehicle and gently carries each of the two children – one boy and one girl – from that vehicle to hers. Police did not have information available on the ages of the children. They looked to be less than 5 years old. Police said the children were unharmed in the incident.
Staff Writer Elyse Toribio contributed to this article.
On the web
Watch a video of the incident. Visit njersy.co/hammerattack