Authorities have charged a tourist for throwing his 8-month-old daughter down a half-flight of stairs during a fight with his girlfriend, an aspiring model, at a Times Square hotel.
The girlfriend, Dezirae Andersen, died moments after falling off the hotel’s roof. Tyler Griffen, 24, was arrested for harassment, attempted assault, and endangering his daughter.
However, he did not face charges in Andersen’s nine-story fall. A video captured Griffen throwing the baby, but a hotel guest caught the infant, preventing any harm.
According to a criminal complaint, Tyler Griffen allegedly pushed his girlfriend, Dezirae Andersen, onto the roof before she fell to her death.
Investigators found hair and an earring at the scene after reviewing video footage of the assault. The complaint charges that Griffen also admitted to punching Andersen multiple times and slamming her against a wall, which was caught on video. Andersen, who was an aspiring nurse and model, fell from the roof of the nine-story hotel and landed on scaffolding above the sidewalk.
It is still unclear whether she jumped or fell accidentally during the brawl, but police have ruled out the possibility of her being pushed. Griffen was arrested for several charges, including harassment, attempted assault, and acting in a manner injurious to his 8-month-old daughter, whom he also threw down a half-flight of stairs during the altercation.
“She was a very sweet girl, loving girl, great granddaughter,” Andersen’s grandmother Bobbie Andersen told. “Hurts. Sad. Unbelievable. Still in shock.”
Bobbie Andersen, the grandmother of the deceased woman, stated that the couple had come to New York to introduce the baby to Griffen’s relatives. Andersen had recently started modeling after the birth of her baby and was also working towards becoming a registered nurse. She had a modeling assignment scheduled for the upcoming weekend in New York.
“She just started modeling soon after the baby was born,” the grandmother said. “She had done her first year in school for an RN. She was a real sweet girl. She was excited to have the baby. She really wanted to become an RN. She’s always wanted to model since she was little. A sweet, sweet girl.”
She said her granddaughter met Griffin more than a year ago.
Griffen appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday evening and was released without bail, as none of the charges against him were eligible for bail.
According to police sources, the couple was smoking marijuana and eating edibles in their room at the OYO Times Square hotel when a fight broke out. The altercation quickly escalated and spilled out into a hallway, during which Griffen allegedly attacked his girlfriend.