Police: Toddler critically injured by father on Father's Day in Coney Island

CONEY ISLAND, Brooklyn (WABC) -- At the end of a hallway in a Coney Island housing project, a single strip of police tape marks the scene of a monstrous crime.

It's where cops say 18-year-old Shaquan Taylor celebrated Father's Day by beating his own flesh and blood to within an inch of her life.

"Oh God," a neighbor said. "I don't even know what to say, it's so sad."

The next door neighbor heard a baby crying Sunday, and only later learned 16-month-old Nylaha Lewis was in a coma clinging to life, her skull fractured.

Police say Taylor was watching his daughter when he claims she fell off a bed.

He messaged the baby's mother Tammy Lewis on Facebook.

When she arrived to find her baby badly injured, she tried to call 911, but cops say Taylor beat her too before running out.

They caught him a few blocks away.

Paramedics rushed the toddler to the hospital.

"Happy, joyful baby. Oh she's so joyful, comes to my house plays with my daughter, God bless her, hope she's okay," said Sheryl Norris, a family friend.

Monday night, investigators were awaiting a warrant to search Taylor's Coney Island apartment for clues, but they said there was already plenty of evidence he brutalized his own defenseless daughter.

Taylor is charged with several counts of assault and acting in a manner injurious to a child.

He is also charged with assaulting the child's mother.

Nylaha is in critical condition at Maimonides Hospital.