21-month-old boy drowns in bathtub after parents leave him unsupervised and go shopping for 2 hours
BLOOMINGTON, MINNESOTA: A Minnesota couple has been accused of being responsible for the death of their toddler son, who drowned after he was left unsupervised in a bathtub for nearly two hours.
The couple, 25-year-old Sabina Pierre Louis and her 54-year-old husband Eddy Pierre Louis, have been charged with second-degree manslaughter for neglect of a child in the drowning death of their 21-month-old son Asher Pierre Louis, according to a press release by Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman.
The incident came to light after Bloomington Police were sent to Fairview Southdale Hospital to investigate Asher's death at around 10.20 am on Saturday, September 21. When they arrived, both Sabina and Eddy, as well as their nine-year-old daughter, were with the toddler.
When questioned, Eddy told detectives that he had gone to Cub Foods after 8 am that day, and when he returned to his apartment, he and Sabina went to the storage room. He said that, when they returned, they heard their other four-year-old child in the bathroom with the water running.
He said he went to check and found Asher floating in the bathtub, and that when he attempted CPR on the toddler, water came out of his mouth. He said he and his wife then drove him to the hospital, where he was declared dead.
Sabina also retold a similar story, but the police decided to investigate the case further after noticing some inconsistencies.
Surveillance footage obtained from Cub Foods and Walmart confirmed that the couple was lying. It showed them arriving at Walmart at 8:03 am and leaving at 8:48 am. Ten minutes later, they can be seen entering Cub Foods, where they stayed until 9:38 am. With driving time taken into account, they had left their children unsupervised for close to two hours.
When investigators confronted them with the evidence, they admitted to lying during their first interview. They said their children were asleep when they left for the grocery store and thought they would continue to sleep until they returned.
They said that, when they came back, their oldest child was sleeping, but realized to their horror that their four-year-old child and their baby were in the bathroom with the water running.
Sabina and Eddy are scheduled to make their first court appearance on Wednesday, September 25.