COCOA, Fla. – A father in Cocoa is facing a manslaughter charge after an infant died at home.
Police said Kevin Dorgan, 44, was arrested Monday after he called 911 when he found the infant had rolled off the bed and was between the mattress, which was on the floor, and a concrete wall.
“I need help,” the father is heard speaking with the 911 operator. “She was suffocating.”
Police said Dorgan had left the child on the mattress with blankets and a pillow around the baby to prevent them from rolling over and went into another room of his apartment at the Cocoa Village Courtyard Villas on Orange Street to watch YouTube videos.
In interviews with police, Dorgan acknowledged that he should have put the baby in the pack-and-play that was near the mattress, according to a probable cause affidavit by the Cocoa Police Department.
The child’s mother was at work at the time, police said.
The probable cause affidavit said Dorgan showed “conduct showing reckless disregard for human life, or for the safety of the other persons, or conduct showing an entire lack of care which raises a presumption of indifference to the consequences.”
Dorgan was arrested on a charge of manslaughter of a child.
Judge Thomas Brown Thomas set his bond at the Brevard County jail at $75,000.
“I do find that this does meet the standard for probable cause for the charge,” Judge Brown said. “I am going to order no contact with the mother of the deceased or any other family members at this time.”
The no contact order includes Dorgan’s 2-year-old daughter who police said was also left alone in a room of his apartment.
The affidavit reads Dorgan said he always left his baby alone on the bed while he watched YouTube, only checking on his kids if they were whining or fussing.
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