An argument escalated into violence when a babysitter stabbed the mom whose child she cares for during a heated argument over payment on Monday afternoon in the Bronx, N.Y., said the New York City Police Department.
Miriam Paloma of Brooklyn allegedly shouted, “I don’t work for free!” before slicing the mother’s shoulder and torso in front of her 7-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter, one of whom is the special-needs child the babysitter was hired to care for, accordng to CBS Local. Both of the women are 27 years old.
Officers who responded to the emergency call arrested Paloma and charged her with assault, acting in a manner injurious to a child less than 17, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon, a spokesperson for the NYPD told Yahoo Lifestyle. EMS rushed the mom to Jacobi Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.
She is reportedly listed in serious but stable condition and is expected to survive. Her children were not injured.
“I didn’t know what to do,” the mom, who did not want her identity revealed, said to CBS Local. “I told her to put the knife down, she wouldn’t put the knife down.”
The mom said that she hired Paloma through an agency, and that Paloma seemed confused about who actually owed her the money. “Previously she had told me that the agency owed her money, and about two hours later she just came out of nowhere and attacked me with a knife,” the mom said.
Paloma threatened not to leave until she got her money, then proceeded to stab the mom in her back twice, causing blood to spatter all over the apartment. The children were also “running back and forth,” she said, clearly in distress.
“All of a sudden I ran across the hallway down to the kids’ room, locked the kids’ room, pushed the bureau, pushed a bunk bed, everything and I’m screaming out the window for police, for help, for [an] ambulance,” the mom said.
A neighbor, who has also chosen to be anonymous, overhead the racket, according to CBS Local.
“All I heard her was screaming my name and saying, ‘Please call the cops, I’ve been stabbed,’” said the neighbor. “‘Somebody help me, somebody please call the cops, she’s trying to kill me.’”
Paloma has no prior arrests, but the mom claims the agency who connected her with the suspect should be held accountable for not doing their due diligence in the screening process.
“Obviously this is a very unstable person,” she said, “and the agency that was supposed to give support to disabled children does not know how to hire people.”
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