An unhinged Queens dad who tried to drown his two young children at a Connecticut beach has been arrested, while the toddlers remain hospitalized and fighting for their lives, police said.
A police officer patrolling near a West Haven, Conn. beach heard screams coming from the water around 2:30 a.m. Saturday, police said.
The officer headed down the beach and toward the water where he spotted a man, identified as Romney Desronvil, 41, and two small kids struggling.
The officer stepped into the water while Desronvil “continued to drift further away with the children all while screaming at responding officers to ‘stay back’,” the West Haven Police Department said in a statement.
“It was obvious at this point that the male… was deliberately drowning his children,” the statement said.
Officers and members of the West Shore Fire Department rushed to the scene, and waded nearly 100 yards into the water as Desronvil pulled the children further out, according to police.
The first responding cop was able to grab the children — both under three years old — and bring them to shore.
Medics rushed the youngsters to an area hospital, where they were being treated in an intensive care unit, cops said. Charges against Desronvil, who is in West Haven police custody, are pending.
At the disturbed dad’s Flushing apartment building on Sunday, shocked residents described Desronvil as a kind and helpful neighbor.
“He’s a family guy,” said a 49-year-old neighbor who declined to be identified. “He’s always taking care of his family.,” describing Desronvil as a “fantastic” father to his small children.
“Everything’s always been peaceful,” the man said. “This is completely out of the blue. Out of character.”
Desronvil lived in the apartment with his wife and children, according to residents.
“He’s a nice person,” said Miguel Ruiz, 19. “He just seems very sweet and very kind. He doesn’t seem like the type to do that.”
Ruiz said he hoped his neighbor’s arrest was “just a confusion” on the part of police.
“[I’m] very surprised,” said Ruiz. “It’s confusing to me because I just can’t believe someone one do that, especially someone like him,” adding: “He doesn’t seem like the type to do that.”
Another neighbor said the dad was “the most quiet and helpful ever,” even doing the neighbor’s laundry after she had a baby.
“I don’t understand,” said the woman. “Whenever he see me, he helped me … He helped me a lot.”
The terrifying incident was reminiscent of a 2022 Brooklyn drowning of three children that shook the city.
On Sept. 12, 2022, Erin Merdy, 30, drowned her children, 7-year-old Zachary, 4-year-old Liliana and 3-month-old Oliver in the surf off Coney Island, police charged.
The troubled woman’s panicked sister called 911 around 1 a.m. telling a dispatcher the “babies were gone,” the Daily News previously reported. Responding officers found Merdy, wet and barefoot, wandering alone along the Coney Island Boardwalk, later discovering the children dead in the water. Autopsies revealed they had been drowned.
