Charges: Sleeping dad suffocated infant son after drinking 24 beers
A 30-year-old Blooming Prairie, Minn., man allegedly drank 24 beers before he fell asleep on the couch with his 8-week-old baby and woke up six hours later with the child face down and not breathing, according to charges filed last week.
Steele County prosecutors charged Cory Neal Stucky with second-degree manslaughter and child endangerment in the July death of his newborn.
According to the criminal complaint, Stucky had neighbors over on the day before the baby's death when he starting drinking around 11 a.m. He consumed at least 24 beers that day and went to a bar that night.
The baby's mother, identified as A.S., said when he started crying around 1 a.m., Stucky took him aggressively to feed him and she went to sleep.
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When she got up around 7 a.m. the next morning, she found the boy face down on the couch, his body cold to the touch and Stucky's arm on top of him.
The boy was transferred to the hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to the criminal complaint.
Stucky initially denied he'd been drinking and told investigators he was a heavy sleeper. Two days later he said he had 10 beers before he laid down with the baby.
In November, the mother told investigators that after they got home from the hospital, Stucky was cleaning up beer bottles. She said she'd been concerned about his drinking in the past.
An autopsy revealed the baby died from asphyxia.