ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - A 30-year-old Eagan man was charged with manslaughter and child neglect on Tuesday after allegedly suffocating his 2-month-old son while falling asleep with him after a night of drinking.
Nathan Savage was charged in Dakota County District Court with three counts of second-degree manslaughter, a felony, one count of gross misdemeanor child neglect and one count of gross misdemeanor child endangerment, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press (https://bit.ly/1lxfkQW ).
According to the charges, Savage, his fiancee and friends had been drinking for the couple’s anniversary. Prosecutors say Nolan Sikich was fussing, so Savage gave him a bottle and took him to bed with him, laying the infant’s head on his chest.
The next morning, on Oct. 19, he awoke to his fiancee frantically asking about the baby and Savage discovered the infant beneath him.
The boy was cold and not moving. Savage knew he was dead, he told police, because he was “white as a ghost.”
He told investigators that he had done so many times before because he wanted Nolan to be close to him. The medical examiner determined the cause of death to be asphyxia. The death was ruled accidental.
Infants should not sleep with adults, in adult beds or in other environments that contain suffocation hazards, according to the National Institute of Child Health.
His next court date is May 27.
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Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, https://www.twincities.com
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