The father left the baby alone in the bedroom while he went into the living room to watch YouTube videos, police said, where he could not see either of the children. — Reuters
A four-month-old girl has died one month after she was found face down and trapped between a mattress on the floor and the wall of a Florida home, police said.
Now, her dad is charged.
The 44-year-old father of two returned to their Cocoa home on Sept 5 after dropping off the childrens’ mother at work, according to an arrest affidavit from the Cocoa Police Department.
McClatchy News is not identifying the father to protect the identity of his children.
The father put his two-year-old child in a bedroom and played a video for them to watch and had the four-month-old, who was sitting in a car seat, with him in the living room, according to the affidavit.
Sometime later, the baby became fussy. The father told police he thought the baby wanted to stretch out.
He took the baby into a bedroom and placed her on a mattress on the floor, then placed two blankets on either side of her and a pillow above the girl’s head, according to the affidavit.
The father then left the baby alone in the room while he went into the living room to watch YouTube videos, police said, where he could not see either of the children.
The dad said he wasn’t paying attention to the time, but later that evening his two-year-old child started whining in their room and he changed their diaper then put on an Elmo video, according to the affidavit.
He left again, then about 15 minutes later, he checked on the baby, police said.
He found the baby lying face down in between the edge of the mattress and the wall, and she wasn’t breathing, according to the affidavit.
The father called 911 and tried to “breathe into” the baby until paramedics arrived, and the girl was taken to the hospital in critical condition, police said.
About a month later on Oct 7, the baby died, according to the affidavit.
The child’s mother, who was at work at the time the baby was found, told police her child had done some “tummy time” but had not yet learned to roll over.
The mother said she is the primary caregiver during the day and that the baby never slept on the mattress when she’s there, according to the affidavit.
Police said there were multiple cribs and play areas in the house and next to the bed that would have been a safer place for the baby to stretch out.
The baby’s father was charged with manslaughter of a child on Oct 9, according to the affidavit.
Cocoa is about 50 miles east of Orlando. – The Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service
