NEW YORK — The head football coach of the oldest child suspected to have been drowned by his mother on Coney Island Beach recalled picking the hungry boy up for practices — and a disinterested mother who rarely attended games.
“We used to pick him up and walk him over to practice,” said head coach Allen McFarland. “We used to bring him over and feed him at practice.”
Dozens of balloons were strung from a fence at Kaiser Park alongside silver balloons arranged in a number 15 — the number Zachary Merdy, 7, wore as he played for the Coney Island Training Youth football team.
“We are playing this season for Zack,” Coach Alfred Brown said at a vigil turned football practice at the park three blocks from where the boy lived on Neptune Ave. in Coney Island.
Zachary was discovered unconscious near the shoreline at W. 35th St. hours after police responded to a 1:40 a.m. Monday 911 call from his aunt, police said.
Also unresponsive were his sister Liliana Merdy, 4, and his 3-month-old baby brother Oliver Bondarev, cops said. The three children were declared dead at 5:38 a.m after being rushed to Coney Island Hospital.
Zachary played receiver, linebacker and some offensive line for the Silverbacks, where his coaches noticed some strange behavior from both the boy and his mother.
“Something that was noticeable was when we feed him the pasta it was always ‘Can I have some more, can I have another?’” McFarland recalled.
The 30-year-old mother, Erin Merdy, called a cousin early Monday and told them she drowned the kids, police sources said, sparking the 911 call and a frantic search by cops.
Merdy was taken into custody at the 60th Precinct stationhouse before she was transported to a local hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. She was not immediately charged in her children’s deaths.
Merdy would often skip games and when she did come she’d quickly leave.
“She was always in a rush,” McFarland said. “She seemed to be juggling a lot of things.”
In May, Zachary abruptly stopped coming to practice and games.
“They just stopped,” McFarland said. “They weren’t even answering texts.”
Over the summer, the coaches reached to Merdy to remind her of the upcoming season after Zachary and his teammates had clinched the championship the year before.
“She was really excited, but then it was, ‘We’ll think about it, coach,’” McFarland said. “She never gave a flat out answer as to why he wasn’t playing.”
At practice Monday night, the team gathered to pray for Zachary and had a group hug before running drills.
They closed the huddle with a clap and a chant, “Zachary, we love you!”
“Some of them are taking it really hard,” McFarland said of Zachary’s teammates. “And some of them are just finding out about it. There is a real sharp pain.”
“You can only imagine what the kids were going through as they took their last breaths,” McFarland said of the victims. “It’s heartbreaking. The only person you can really trust in the whole world is your mom.”
