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Cops: Florida Woman Helped Kill 6-Year-Old While Playing Video Games

Ashley Cole

ENGLEWOOD, Florida – A Florida woman has been charged with Principal to Aggravated Manslaughter of a Child after she allegedly helped kill her boyfriend’s son while the two adults played video games on Christmas Eve, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators say that, while 31-year-old James Dearman and 22-year-old Ashley Cole were playing video games in the living room on Christmas Eve, Dearman made his son and 7-year-old sibling stand with their faces to the wall. When his son turned to look at the television, Dearman allegedly got angry and brought the child to the couch where he forced him to lie on his side and face the rear cushions. Cole pinned the child’s feet behind her back while Dearman used his body weight to pin his son down as the two adults continued to play video games, investigators say.

James Dearman

According to the arrest affidavit, Dearman’s son screamed that he couldn’t breathe and begged to use the bathroom, eventually urinating on the couch, and later became unconscious. Dearman and Cole left the child on the couch, went to the garage to smoke a cigarette, and later called 911. Investigators say that Cole also failed to assist the boy when he yelled that he couldn’t breathe.

The child was later transported to the hospital and pronounced dead. Responding deputies reported seeing bruising on the child’s back.

Detectives with the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office arrested Cole of Monday night. The boy’s father, James Dearman, was previously arrested in this case.

The 7-year-old sibling was uninjured and remains in the protective custody of the Department of Children and Family Services.

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