Elmont dad assaulted daughter, 5, at park, Nassau police say

An Elmont man was arrested and charged with second-degree assault and child endangerment after witnesses called 911 to report he had been “observed repeatedly punching” his 5-year-old daughter with “a closed fist” at a neighborhood park, Nassau County police said.

Stanley Frederique, 36, of 240th Street, was arrested near the intersection of Elmont Road and Cromer Road West about 1 1/2 hours after the incident, which police said took place up the block at Elmont Road Park at about 8:10 p.m. Wednesday.

Police said the girl, whose name was not released because she is a minor and because she is the victim of an alleged assault, was located a short time later with her mother — at her mother’s workplace. The mother’s name also was withheld.

The girl was transported to a hospital for treatment and evaluation of “pain to her head,” police said.

Police said that witnesses called 911 to report the assault, saying Frederique had punched the girl “with a closed fist to the head as he was pulling her out” of the park “by her hair and arm.”

Responding officers were unable to immediately locate Frederique, police said, but made the arrest at 9:40 p.m. after finding him based on the description provided by witnesses.

Frederique is scheduled for arraignment Thursday in First District Court in Hempstead.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”