A 30-year-old man is charged with manslaughter and child endangermentafter authorities say he drank two dozen beers and fell asleep on top of his 8-week-old son, suffocating the child to death.
Cory Neal Stucky, of Blooming Prairie, Minn., was charged last week in the young boy's death, which happened July 18.
According to the criminal complaint, Stucky told officers that he fell asleep with the baby on his chest and woke up to his girlfriend screaming and crying that the boy wasn't breathing.
Initially, Stucky told police he hadn't been drinking and instead stated he was a heavy sleeper.
The mother of the child told police the boy was born five weeks premature and the day before his death, they had neighbors over with their kids. She said Stucky started drinking around 11 a.m. and that he drank at least 24 beers between then and 9 p.m., when he and a few friends went to a local bar.
She told officers Stucky came back home around midnight.
Around 1 a.m., she said she was up with the baby, trying to get him back to sleep, when Stucky got up, took the boy and said repeatedly that it was his weekend to get up with him. Stucky then took the baby to the couch to feed him and she went back to sleep.
When she got up in the morning, she told police she walked over to the couch, saw Stucky facing the back of the couch and one of her son's legs, which was white and cold.
She moved Stucky's arm off the infant's head and saw the boy was face-down in the couch, according to the complaint. She began screaming and called 911.
A friend of Stucky's who was out at the bar with him that night told police he was "tanked" during the course of the day, according to the complaint.
An autopsy of the boy's death revealed there were findings consistent with asphyxia. No other causes were listed.
