Florida Man Smothers 6-year-old Son While Playing Video Games

In Florida, James Dearman is now charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child, and is being held on $1 million bond.

James “Rick” Dearman, 31, carried on playing games with his live-in girlfriend at the same time he was squeezing the life from his child, according to cops.

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

Cole said she went to the garage to pray.

Police say the couple ignored the boy’s screams claiming he couldn’t breathe, but later noticed he had become lifeless and chose to call an ambulance. Late Wednesday, detectives working in conjunction with the Medical Examiner’s Office charged Dearman with aggravated child abuse. Dearman’s girlfriend told deputies that the father eventually became angry and used his full body weight of 270 pounds to pin his younger son to the couch, with the boy facing the rear cushions. The deputies who responded saw paramedics performing CPR on the boy in the living room and found a bruise on the child’s back.

Neighbors on Lord Street described themselves as shocked and heartbroken on Thursday to learn of the death of the 6-year-old boy they often would see playing outdoors with his sibling. Dearman and his girlfriend reportedly left the child on the couch, and went to the garage to smoke a cigarette before calling 911.

The emergency services arrived and rushed to boy to hospital, but he was pronounced dead. When they returned, they realized the boy’s lips had turned blue and he was no longer breathing. She said Dearman then pinned the boy against the couch using his bodyweight.

The 7-year-old sibling, in an interview at the Child Protection Center, said, “When Dad squished him, he got dead“. No charges have been filed against Cole.

Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office Captain John Walsh said the killing was “egregious and malicious”.

Dearman had an outstanding warrant in that state for three counts of animal cruelty and one count of criminal damage to property.

Deputies say his history also includes an arrest in 2008 for desertion from the Navy.