Dad Played Video Games While Son Died, Deputies Say

ENGLEWOOD, FL — A 31-year-old Englewood man is being held on $1 million bond in the Sarasota County Jail after deputies say he played video games Christmas Eve while his 6-year-old son died.

According to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were called out to James Dearman’s home around 11:10 p.m. Dearman told deputies the child was unconscious and had stopped breathing. Responding deputies, however, noted the boy had bruising on his back, an email from the sheriff’s office said. That discovery kicked off an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the child’s death.

On Dec. 28, detectives interviewed Dearman’s live-in girlfriend, Ashley Cole, and learned that she and Dearman were playing video games in the living room on the night the child died. Cole, an arrest report states, told deputies the 6-year-old and his 7-year-old sibling were told to go to bed, “which is on the floor with blankets, in a separate bedroom,” the report stated.

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When the children wouldn’t go to bed, Cole told detectives Dearman forced both children to stand facing the wall.

The 6-year-old, however, was caught watching the two play video games instead, the report noted. That discovery, the report said, angered Dearman. To further punish the child, the report said, Dearman pinned his son against the couch in such a way that he could not breathe.

“The defendant ignored the victim’s pleas and both Cole and he continued to play video games,” the arrest report states. After about 5 minutes, the child “became motionless.”

A few minutes later, Cole and Dearman, the report said, went into the garage to smoke a cigarette. When they returned, they found the child still lying on the couch. His lips “were blue,” the report said, and he was “not breathing.”

Cole told detectives she ran into the garage to pray while Dearman called 911.

The story, the report noted, was relayed the same when detectives interviewed the 7-year-old. The child told detectives, “When Dad squished him, he got dead.”

Dearman was booked into the Sarasota County Jail Dec. 28. He faces aggravated manslaughter of a child charges. His bond was set at $1 million, according to jail records. He also had an outstanding warrant from McIntosh County, Georgia, jail records indicate.

Booking photo courtesy of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office