HARLEM, NY — Four officials from the Administration for Children's Services have been suspended as part of an internal investigation into the agency following the death of 6-Year-Old Zymere Perkins of Harlem.

Two managers from the ACS Child Protective Division – one assistant commissioner and one borough commissioner — and two managers from the General Counsel's Division — one director and one assistant director — were placed on 30-day suspensions without pay as of Tuesday, Oct. 11, an ACS spokesperson told Patch. The four suspensions increased the tally of ACS workers facing punishment for the mishandling of the Zymere Perkins case to nine. In an Oct. 5 press conference ACS Commissioner Gladys Carrión said that five child protective staff one manager, two supervisors and two caseworkers who worked directly on the Perkins case were placed on modified service.

"I want to make this plain — anyone on my staff who failed their duty to protect this child will have to answer to me," Carrión said during the Oct. 5 press conference. "I will hold them personally responsible."

During an investigation into Zymere Perkins' death, law enforcement officials discovered that the 6-year-old endured months of abuse at the hands of his mother, Geraldine Perkins, and her live-in boyfriend, Rysheim Smith, before his death.

The boy's mother told police that Smith hit the boy with his hands and with a wooden broom stick the day of his death, according to a criminal complaint. The mother also told police that Smith had hung the boy from thee back of their apartments bathroom door by his shirt and had seen his body "go limp," according to the complaint.

Geraldine Perkins told officials that the boy was being abused for months by Smith and that she had even hit the boy on occasion, according to the criminal complaint. The abusive behavior started before Perkins moved into Smith's apartment on the 600 block of West 135th Street, according to the complaint. During the investigation law enforcement found the apartment had no electricity, had rotting food in the fridge and was infested with roaches, officials said.