Dad Suffocates Son While Playing Video Games

 

James Dearman's actions were 'egregious and malicious', said police

"When dad squished him, he got dead," the victim's surviving sibling, who witnessed the incident, told detectives.A Florida father was playing video games while he used his bodyweight to suffocate his six-year-old son on Christmas Eve, sheriff's deputies say.

James Dearman, 31, of Sarasota, is charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child after he sat on the youngster on a sofa until he stopped breathing.

The dead boy's seven-year-old sibling saw the whole incident, according to the sheriff's office.

"When dad squished him, he got dead," the surviving sibling told detectives, according to an arrest affidavit.

Dearman's live-in girlfriend, Ashley Cole, told detectives the couple had sent the two children to go to bed at 7:30pm, reports WFLA.

But Dearman allegedly became angry because the youngsters would not go to sleep and kept running round the bedroom.

Ms Cole said Dearman ordered both children to stand facing the wall, but he noticed the six-year-old boy watching the couple play video games.

Dearman pinned the boy with his body weight to the couch so that he was facing the rear cushions.

Detectives say Dearman continued to play video games while ignoring the boy's screams that he couldn't breathe.

When the couple noticed the boy looked lifeless, Dearman called 911 and attempted to revive him.

Ms Cole said she ran into the garage to pray.

Paramedics arrived at the house in the Englewood area at about 10:10pm and took the boy to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Sarasota County Sheriff's Office Captain John Walsh said the killing was "egregious and malicious".

Dearman is being held in Sarasota County Jail