A Florida man has been arrested and charged with killing a 23-month-old infant whose mother was babysitting her while she was at work, police said.
Lakeland Police Chief Sammy Taylor told reporters Monday that 20-year-old Bobby Curry was arrested Friday and charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.
On March 5, at 5:25 p.m., officers from the department were dispatched to a residence on Kansas Street in response to a report of an unresponsive child.
When officers arrived, they found 23-month-old Ezekiel Cotto Saint-Fleur on the bathroom floor, unresponsive, not breathing, and without a pulse.
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Lakeland Police Chief Sammy Taylor said the suspect, Bobby Calley, was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse after the 23-month-old child he was watching was injured and later died. Hold up a photo.
Officers immediately began CPR on the child until emergency medical crews arrived and took over. Ezekiel was seriously injured and the crew took him to two different hospitals, where he died around 5pm on March 8th.
When police were called on March 5, the child was being watched by Curry, who lived at the residence with his mother.
Taylor said Curry was alone with the child while his mother was at work. According to the police officer, Curry and her mother had been dating for about four months and lived together for about two weeks.
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The Lakeland Police Department responded to a call of an unresponsive child on March 5 at approximately 5:25 p.m. and found 23-month-old Ezekiel Cotto St. Fleur unresponsive, not breathing, and without a pulse. I discovered that it wasn’t there. (Lakeland Police Department)
However, Callie is not Ezekiel’s biological father.
Curry allegedly told detectives that between 2 and 3 p.m., Ezekiel urinated on his bed so he gave her a bath. As Curry took the child out of the bath, one of the puppies jumped on the child, causing Ezekiel to fall backwards and hit his head on the bathtub, before falling to the floor. The police officer also said the puppy weighed approximately 15 to 20 pounds.
Curry told detectives that the child, who was still breathing, was moved to a bed to rest, and when he returned to check on the child around 3:15 p.m., he found that the child was barely breathing. he said.
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Curry took the child back to the bathroom and began performing chest compressions, but at one point Ezekiel began gasping for air. Still, Curry never called 911.
Instead, at 3:20 p.m., he contacted the child’s mother via Instagram message and informed her that her son was suffering from severe physical difficulties. In an Instagram message, Curry asked if her child could go into cardiac arrest.
Curry and Ezekiel’s mother exchanged 67 messages until about 5:25 a.m., when his mother told Ezekiel to call 911.
Medical experts said Curry’s explanation of how the child was injured was inconsistent with the findings and the severity of the injuries.
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Instead, medical experts suggest the injuries were the result of physical abuse, Taylor said.
The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of death to be blunt force trauma.
Once the cause of death was determined, police obtained a warrant last Friday and arrested Curry on charges of first-degree murder and child abuse.
“He was frustrated and I think he used something, he pushed the child, he did something that caused the child to injure his front.” [or] “It was a fatal injury to the top of her head. I don’t know if he used an instrument or if he grabbed her face and forced her into something,” Taylor said.
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Taylor also took issue with the time it took Curry to call 911.
“There’s no reason at all,” Taylor said. “I can tell he’s probably overwhelmed. We have at least two puppies at home. He’s only 20 years old. It all makes sense.
“But common sense, just being a human being, if you see another human being suffering, you should pick up the phone,” the chief added.
