A heartbreaking funeral for Jahmeik Modlin, a malnourished 4-year-old boy who weighed just 19 pounds when he died, honored the little boy with a tiny white coffin adorned with gold finishings next to a poster board with Jameik pictured as a baby with angel wings, bordered by Mickey Mouse, characters from Paw Patrol and Spider Man.
“They should not make boxes that small,” lamented Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who spoke at the funeral at Elim International Fellowship church in Brooklyn.
Also in attendance were state Attorney General Letitia James, NYPD chief of department Jeffrey Maddrey and other city officials, in addition to Jameik’s family.
“This has been a very difficult time for us. Please keep us in your prayers,” said the little boy’s maternal aunt, Dianna Kerlegrand, who broke down as she spoke and had to be helped to stand steadily. “I want to get justice for my nephew, and just thank everyone for coming out.”
Police responding to a 911 call Oct. 13 found Jahmeik unconscious and not breathing in front of his family’s apartment building on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. near W. 145th St. in Harlem with his mother, who had brought him outside to wait for the ambulance. Medics rushed Jameik to Harlem Hospital, where he died 10 hours later. He was profoundly malnourished and suffering from exzema so severe that first responders thought the little boy’s skin was burned.
Jameik’s 26-year-old mother, Nytavia Ragsdale, was arrested and charged with criminally negligent homicide and endangering the welfare of a child shortly after his death. Ragsdale has said she reached out to social workers from the city’s Administration for Children’s Services numerous times but did not receive help.
ACS had visited the family’s home before, but closed its last case with the family in 2022 after determining there was no cause for further action, according a police source.
The family is currently suing ACS.
Before the funeral began, city Department of Corrections officials allowed Ragsdale and the boy’s father, Laron Modlin, 25 — who was also arrested and charged with criminally negligent homicide and endangering the welfare of a child — to view their little boy’s body before returning to jail.
“The best way to work through this pain is to ensure that no child in the city or state, ever dies again from starvation. Amen. Never, ever again,” said James. “As the Attorney General of this state, who has a responsibility to care for all children, this day, I promise you family, to push that this report be made public,” she added, referring to the current ongoing investigation of whether ACS could have done anything differently that might have prevented Jahmeik’s death.
