A Florida man was arrested and charged in the murder of a 23-month-old toddler he was babysitting while the mother of the child was at work, according to police.
Lakeland Police Chief Sammy Taylor told reporters on Monday that 20-year-old Bobby Curry was arrested on Friday and charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.
Officers with the department were dispatched to a residence on Kansas Avenue at 5:25 p.m. on March 5, for reports of an unresponsive child.
When officers arrived, they found 23-month-old Ezekiel Cotto Saint Fleur on the floor of the bathroom, unresponsive, not breathing and without a pulse.
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Lakeland Police Chief Sammy Taylor holds up a picture of Bobby Curry, who was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse after a 23-month-old child he was watching was injured and later died.
The officers immediately began performing CPR on the child until emergency medical crews arrived and took over. The crews transported Ezekiel to two different hospitals as he suffered from critical injuries, and at around 5 p.m. on March 8, he died.
When police were called on March 5, the child was being watched by Curry, who lived at the residence with the child’s mother.
Taylor said Curry was alone with the child while the mother was at work. Both Curry and the mother had been in a relationship for about 4 months and lived together for about 2 weeks, the chief said.
The Lakeland Police Department responded to a report of an unresponsive child at about 5:25 p.m. on March 5, where they found 23-month-old Ezekiel Cotto Saint Fleur unresponsive, not breathing and without a pulse. (Lakeland Police Department)
Curry, though, is not Ezekiel’s biological father.
When Curry spoke to detectives, he allegedly said that between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., he gave Ezekiel a bath because he had urinated in his bed. As Curry took the child out of the bath, he said, one of the puppies leaped onto the child and caused Ezekiel to fall backward, hit his head on the bathtub and then on the floor. The chief also said the puppy weighed about 15-20 pounds.
Curry told detectives he moved the child, who was still breathing, to his bed to rest, then at about 3:15 p.m., he went back to check on the child and he was barely breathing.
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