Man charged with suffocating son against couch

Paramedics later took the boy to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Cole, the girlfriend, said that after about 5 minutes, the 6-year-old boy became motionless and that she and Dearman left the couch to smoke a cigarette in the garage.

Sarasota County sheriff’s detectives attempted to obtain a statement from Dearman on Monday, but he would not provide one and asked to consult with an attorney. Cole told detectives that at 7:30 p.m., the couple told the two children to go to bed.

The dead boy’s 7-year-old sibling watched the death unfold, according to NBC station WFLA.

It was gathered that James forced the boy to lie on his side on the couch with his face against the rear couch cushions and dropped his 122.5kg weight on his son and returned to his game while the little boy was screaming for his dear life out of suffocation that he could not breathe.

Both Dearman and the girlfriend ignored the child and played video games while he screamed.

The ordeal was eerily similar to the case of Cody Wygant, who was charged with third degree murder after suffocating his child while playing video games.

The sibling demonstrated to detectives how the victim was pinned in the couch and said the victim was crying and needed to use the restroom, but was denied by Dearman.

When they realized the child was unresponsive, Dearman’s girlfriend ran to the garage to pray while he called 911 and performed CPR until paramedics arrived, investigators said.

SCSO deputies also planned to return to Dearman’s home Thursday, serving another search warrant to the residence.

While the neighbors said they did not know the parents, they called the children the cutest little kids, and described the boy as an especially friendly child.

In Florida, James Dearman is now charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child, and is being held on $1 million bond. Dearman’s history includes an arrest in 2008 for Desertion from the Navy.

The 7-year-old sibling was not injured and is in the protective custody of the Department of Children and Families.