Parents Charged with Manslaughter in Infant Son's Dog Mauling Death

The parents of a sleeping 3-year-old baby mauled to death in upstate New York by at least one dog earlier this month have been charged with manslaughter.

Details of the Attack

The fatal attack occurred on Aug. 3 during the early afternoon at a Rochester home. Sulamain Hawkins Jr. was fatally mauled while sleeping in the attic of a residence on Bidwell Terrace, Rochester Police Department Capt. Greg Bello said. The home is located in the city's Maplewood Historic District, about three miles northwest of downtown.

Who Were the Parents?

According to police, the boy’s 19-year-old mother and father, Anastasia Weaver and Sulamain Hawkins Sr., spent the night in the unfinished attic of the multi-family residence. The family did not live in the home but were known to the occupants and occasionally stayed there, Bello said.

About 1 p.m. on the day of the attack, the baby's parents allegedly left the infant sleeping on the floor in the attic while they went downstairs to smoke marijuana, leaving the two "pit bull type" dogs in the attic with the child, Bello said. When the parents returned, they found the child unresponsive from the dog mauling.

Aftermath

The baby suffered "severe trauma" to his body and was taken to a hospital, where he died several hours later, police said. After the child's death, Rochester Animal Services euthanized the dogs involved.

Charges

Both Weaver and Sulamain Hawkins Sr. were taken into custody on Wednesday and later charged with second-degree manslaughter, police said. Both parents were booked into jail, Monroe County Jail records show, where they were being held on $15,000 bond.

The couple was arraigned Thursday in Rochester City Court and pleaded not guilty to the charges, WHAM-TV reported.

"This is not a case where a mom puts down a baby on a bed to go to the bathroom or to quickly tend to another child that was in crisis," the outlet reported Assistant District Attorney Sara VanStrydonck said during the hearing. "The allegations here are we feel support the recklessness that a reasonable person in these defendant’s situations would have no acted the way they did."

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.