Prosecutors Charge the Teen Parents with Second-Degree Manslaughter
Sulamain Hawkins Jr., 3-months old, was killed by two pit bulls on Bidwell Terrace in Rochester.
Manslaughter Charges
UPDATE 08/22/24: The parents of a 3-month old boy who was killed by pit bulls earlier this month now face felony charges. Anastasia Weaver and Sulamain Hawkins Sr., both 19, pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter. Prosecutors allege the couple left the infant on the floor in an attic beside two pit bulls for up to an hour while they went downstairs to smoke marijuana. At the time, the couple had been living in the attic of a home on Bidwell Terrace that belonged to an acquaintance.
Prosecutors believe the couple had been staying at the home for a few months and described the conditions in the unfinished attic as "deplorable." On August 3, at about 1:00 pm, Sulamain Hawkins Jr., was found unresponsive in the attic when his parents returned. After police were called to the home, first responders rushed the baby to Strong Memorial Hospital, where he died. The Monroe County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the case a "homicide" due to injuries from a dog mauling.
Both pit bulls have since been euthanized. What isn't clear is who owned the dogs, the tenants in the home or the infant's parents? WROC reports that the tenants have since been evicted. Prosecutors believe the couple was reckless. "The allegations here, we feel, support the recklessness that a reasonable person in these defendants’ situations would not have acted the way they did,” Assistant DA Sara VanStrydonck said. "They knew a risk and they consciously disregarded that risk."
08/06/24: Infant Killed by Dogs
Rochester, NY - Last night, WHAM's Bob Lonsberry broke the story in a Tweet that a 3-month old child was killed by pit bulls Saturday on Bidwell Terrace in northwest Rochester. "Initial report is that adults left the child alone with the dogs while they went to buy drugs," Lonsberry wrote. Today, WROC confirmed the incident with the Rochester Police Department. "A three-month-old baby is dead after police said he was attacked by dogs at a home on Bidwell Terrace Saturday afternoon," reports WROC.
Capt. Greg Bello of the Rochester Police Department on Tuesday described the fatal encounter as "incredibly tragic," reports the Democrat & Chronicle.
Police were dispatched to the residence around 1:00 pm where they found the boy with severe trauma. He was transported to Strong Memorial Hospital, where he died of his injuries. "RPD said Animal Control members secured two 'pit-bull type dogs' from the home. They believe those dogs were involved in the attack," reports WROC. The Major Crimes Unit, the Monroe County's District Attorney's Office, and Child Protective Services are investigating the attack. No criminal charges have been filed.
A 3-month old baby boy was killed by two pit bulls on Bidwell Terrace in Rochester.
View the DogsBite.org Google State Map: New York Fatal Pit Bull Attacks.Related articles:
03/21/24: Review: Five Dog Bite Fatalities Between 2017-2022 Unreported by Media
01/25/24: Review: Three Dog Bite Fatalities Between 2022-2023 Unreported by Media
Law enforcement departments across the United States should release consistent "baseline" information to the media and the public after each fatal dog mauling, including these items.
Nanny dogs and drug-addled parents/pit owners strike again. This little guy never had a chance. Rest in peace sweet angel.
As we all know, pitbulls are “nanny
dogs. Nanny dogs
wouldn’t maim/kill
babies. These folks loved drugs over a baby. This is very sad.
Poor baby he was be born to two idiots parents .not only are they crackheads/drug dealers but to own two vicious pitbull around a infant that a disaster ready to happen.I wonder if the pitbull was family dogs or they trained to attack his opponents because I heard drug dealers own pitbull for protection .I truly feel sorry for him he was born to loser parents and only lived to 3 months because he got killed by pitbull and died because of his parents stupidity.
More evidence of why felons shouldn’t be permitted to own bloodsport dogs.
If they weren’t before this they hopefully will be after this.
This one is in my home town. I so often hear owners say what “cuddle bugs” these dogs are but then the same people say that no one will ever break into their house and live because their pits will tear them apart.
Well which is it? I don’t think “cuddle bugs” rip people to shreds, do they?
I have heard that pitbulls have a tendency towards unusually frequent physical contact with people and that it is a sign that they lack the normal boundaries and inhibitions that normal dogs possess. Normal dogs are the ones that weren’t bred for the purpose of fighting to the death.
I have the same reservations, Cathy.
Good dogs aren’t “cuddle bugs”. This is one of the misnomers the pitbull crowd have been spewing as they run blocker for the dogfighters.
Good dogs have boundaries around human contact. They snuggle up for petting when invited or as a reward and know when to leave. Pitbulls lack this basic understanding of interacting when humans. Good dogs don’t french tongue their owners on tiktok and the ones over 20lbs don’t crawl up into human laps, uninvited.
It’s like this society has completely foregone its understanding of the actual bonds between humans and dogs for some pseudo-therapeutic, narcissistic dis-inhibition around inter-species affection.
And for those too limited to understand that–it’s simple. If you wouldn’t touch or allow your teenager to touch you like that–stop thinking it’s okay for you or your dog to do it to each other.
Not many details to this story. I’m curious, did the parents get home then call the police, or did someone nearby hear the baby and called? These poor children born to parents like these, they don’t have much of a chance at surviving. So sad.
Parents need to teach children how to interact with dogs. On television now is an ad showing a standing or walking white Samoyed type dog with an E collar. It looks to me like the scenario is of a dog leaving a veterinary clinic. A young child runs up to and wraps her arms around the dog’s neck. Why is this wrong? The dog shows no recognition of the child which means a child which doesn’t know the dog
is being taught to behave that way. If the dog bit the child, the behavior would be called unprovoked. Yet, a dog which is not well trained would likely bite the kid. Our dogs need to be trained, not cuddled. I am not suggesting any trainer should be nasty. I am suggesting our pets and children all need training. Good training is not abusive.
This post has been updated to show that the infant’s parents have been charged with manslaughter.
I wish they would get a good lawyer and plead the Nanny Dog defense, and that the national media would pick the story up for its ridiculousness and finally put to rest the nanny-dog myth.
I have no doubt that mindless repetition of that stupid meme made some contribution to this baby’s death.
“The Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the case a homicide due to injuries from a dog mauling.” That seems unusual. The dog mauling deaths I have noticed are ruled “accidental”.
Correct. It’s that bad of a criminal case. The parents were getting “high” while the infant was being mauled. In extreme neglect cases like this, you will see homicide as manner of death (though rare).
Looks like the difference between an unforeseeable accident and homicide comes down to if you are high on grass when the dogs attack or not.
Can we add smoking grass to the list of things that trigger pit bull attacks?
I made the mistake of reading the comments, I really should know better.
“Poor dogs, having garbage owners that likely have them fight. Why doesn’t rochester do something about the gang violence and dog fighting rings? ”
Yes THAT is the sad part of this story, these 2 pits getting put down after possibly being “made” to fight.
Child is killed by dogs, person wonders why isn’t more done to protect dogs.
It isn’t everyday someone comes right out and says “Who will think of the poor widdle puppies that mauled a child to death?” but here we are.
Smoking weed seems incidental to this terrible tragedy. The same thing could have happened if they were doing anything else downstairs and totally sober – the danger was from the dogs, and we see videos of people all over social media letting their dogs and babies crawl all over each other and getting thousands upon thousands of approving reactions.
How are a couple of inexperienced teenagers supposed to know? When shelters are pushing people to buy these dogs. When the local newscasters feature a pitbull on-air as the sob story of the week in need of a home? How are they supposed to know, when speaking a word against pitbulls predictably elicits angry, brain-dead responses about how unfairly judged pitbulls are, and didn’t you know they used to use them to babysit children? When state laws exist to disallow banning dogs by breed. Did the doctors and nurses at the hospital warn them about the dangers of dogs near babies? Did they even ask them if they have dogs?
What about the other parents allowing their pits to kill their babies? Well those people didn’t admit to smoking pot at the time, so those were just terrible accidents and we should just pray for them and haven’t they been punished enough? No charges for those parents, donate to the Gofundme.
The stupidity exists at several levels. There don’t appear to be any clear community standards regarding dogs and children, and that’s what we need in order to prevent these sickening deaths. Prosecutors apparently blame the marijuana, though – OK, let’s draw the line there then.
I couldn’t agree with you more! I think smoking marijuana is irrelevant and like you said every other little one whose mauled by the “family pit bull” is a “terrible accident”! Yet these two stupid kids are facing jail time on top of losing their child! The grandma who dropped her grandson off at the slutty “dog trainer”, got away with killing her grandson by leaving him with the owner of two huge vicious pit bulls (Cane Corso) and the people responsible for the child’s safety were very well aware that they were leaving him with vicious animals and irresponsible trash! Yet none of them were changed with child endangerment! Had they left him in front of a lion’s cage would they be held responsible for their gross negligent behavior? Those people had the benefit of a Facebook page telling them they were leaving their child with dangerous animals, they had the benefit of a sign posted on the “babysitters” gate and most importantly they had the fact they weren’t stupid teenagers whose brains hadn’t even matured yet much less had the hard earned sense that being old brings a most people! It seems like the laws are simply arbitrary! I honestly think that every single person who has a pit bull that kills their child or grandchildren should be charged with neglect! Not just the stupid marijuana smoking teenagers!
Amen.