The father of a young child who was beaten to death in Connecticut last year has filed a claim in an attempt to sue two state agencies that he alleges failed to protect the boy and the boy’s brother, who was seriously beaten but survived the attack.
The claim, filed this month with the state Office of the Claims Commissioner, contends that multiple state agencies should have known the danger that 39-year-old Abdulrahim Sulaiman posed by being allowed to live with the two children he has been accused of severely beating with a bat last September at a residence in Bridgeport, including 6-year-old Jathan Escobar, who later died from his injuries. The claim is the first step in trying to sue a state agency and names both the Department of Children and Families and the Office of Adult Probation.
“We have just been made aware of this claim requesting permission to sue the state being filed and at this time have no comment,” DCF Interim Commissioner Susan Hamilton said in a statement.
A spokesman for Adult Probation declined to comment Friday.
The claim, seeking $60 million in the untimely death of Jathan Escobar, was filed on behalf of the child’s father, Jimmy Escobar. In April, the father was appointed administrator of his son’s estate.
Abdulrahim Sulaiman faces charges in connection with a vicious assault that took the life of a 6-year-old.
(Courtesy of the Bridgeport Police Department)
“The State of Connecticut had a duty to protect these boys, but failed, despite knowing that they were in the custody of a violent offender,” Kelly Reardon of the Reardon Law Firm, P.C., said Friday.
“Two weeks before this horrific act, a judge barred the perpetrator from contacting his own son because he posed a risk of harm to him. Just a few days before it happened, DCF was informed that the older boy had not been in school for nearly a month, but DCF did not find out why.”
“When the DCF worker found out Jathan was not in school, she was required to follow Connecticut law and immediately file a report of suspected abuse and neglect, as well as to investigate this further,” Reardon said. “This violation, and the failure of the state to recognize that the boys were in imminent danger of harm, caused this tragedy.”
The claim alleges that state officials knew of Sulaiman’s history as a “violent offender” who had an alleged past record of “drug abuse, domestic violence and child endangerment….”
Jimmy Escobar is seeking $60 million for the death of his 6-year-old son, according to the claim. A claim filed by the guardian of Jathan Escobar’s brother, who was 4 years old during the attack and ultimately survived, seeks $40 million in damages for the injuries he suffered and the emotional toll they took.
According to the police report, officers on Sept. 24, 2024, responded to an apartment in the 2400 block of Main Street just before 10 a.m. when they received multiple 911 calls reporting an assault, including one from the mother of the two young children who told dispatchers “Please help us.”
“He’s hitting us with a bat,” she cried out, the report said.
When police found the victims in another person’s apartment, the mother was cradling Jathan Escobar, who was unresponsive and bleeding from the head, according to the report. An officer noted that the mother had a “hole in her head” near her left eye and was bleeding. The 4-year-old was on a couch screaming, suffering from facial cuts with blood coming out of his head, the report said.
According to the report, Jathan Escobar was not breathing and did not have a pulse. When an officer began resuscitation efforts, he noticed the child had a hole in the top of his head, the report said. The child had a slight pulse return before he was taken downstairs and rushed in an ambulance to a hospital. Days later, police said, Jathan Escobar had died.
His brother and mother were initially listed in critical condition but ultimately survived.
Sulaiman has been in custody since he was arrested at the scene and remains held on bonds totaling more than $10 million. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, murder of a victim under 16 years old, criminal possession of a weapon and two counts each of risk of injury to a minor and first-degree assault, court records show.
