Family mourns aspiring model tourist who plunged from NYC hotel as boyfriend charged with tossing their baby down stairs: ‘In shock’
A tourist is facing criminal charges for throwing his baby daughter down a flight of stairs during a wild Times Square hotel brawl with his aspiring model girlfriend — who died minutes later in a plunge from the building’s roof, authorities said.
Tyler Griffen, 24, was arrested for harassment, attempted assault and acting in a manner injurious to his 8-month-old daughter, but faces no charges in the nine-story fall that killed aspiring nurse Dezirae Andersen on Tuesday night.
Video showed Griffen throwing their baby down a half-flight light of stairs as the dispute intensified, with a random guest at the hotel catching the infant to spare the little girl from any injury.
A criminal complaint alleges Griffen shoved his girlfriend through a door onto the roof before her deadly plunge, adding investigators found hair and an earring at the scene after reviewing video of the assault.
The Colorado resident also admitted to punching Andersen several times before the fatal fall and was caught on video slamming her against a wall, the complaint charges. Andersen, 22, then fell to her death from the roof, crashing into scaffolding above the sidewalk on W. 47th St. near Seventh Ave. around 10:30 p.m.
Cops are still trying to determine if she jumped or accidentally fell during the wild clash. They have determined she was not pushed.
“She was a very sweet girl, loving girl, great granddaughter,” Andersen’s grandmother Bobbie Andersen told the Daily News. “Hurts. Sad. Unbelievable. Still in shock.”
According to the dead woman’s grandmother Bobbie Andersen, the couple came to New York for a visit to introduce the infant to Griffen’s family members.
Andersen began modeling shortly after the baby’s birth and while working toward becoming a registered nurse had a modeling gig lined up in New York for this weekend.
“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 was released after he was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court Wednesday evening, with none of the charges bail eligible.
The couple was smoking marijuana and eating edibles in their room at the OYO Times Square hotel when Griffen allegedly pummeled his girlfriend in a fast-escalating fight that spilled into a hallway, police sources said.
