Cops: SC Man Hugged Baby to Death

Family friend charged with involuntary manslaughter
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 17, 2014 2:06 AM CDT
Updated Jul 17, 2014 4:33 AM CDT
Cops: SC Man Hugged Baby to Death
Robert Christian Kemp was arrested on July 15 on a charge of involuntary manslaughter   (Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office)

A South Carolina man has been charged with involuntary manslaughter for allegedly giving a 14-month-old boy a hug so tight it killed him. An arrest warrant states that Robert Christian Kemp, a 26-year-old described as a friend of the family, was looking after Jaylen Harris when he gave him "a bear hug, squeezing the victim so tight that the victim stopped breathing as a result, causing the toddler’s death," WBTW reports.

According to an incident report, Kemp told investigators that when the boy started rubbing his eyes like he was tired, he put him in his crib with a bottle and later found him unconscious. Another person in the home attempted CPR but the toddler could not be resuscitated. The coroner found that he had died from asphyxiation. Jaylen died on June 27 last year but Kemp was only arrested this week, and it's not clear why the investigation took more than a year, reports the AP. He faces up to five years in prison if found guilty. (More Robert Christian Kemp stories.)

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