SIOUX FALLS (AP) – A Sioux Falls day care provider has been charged with manslaughter following the death of a baby who became strangled in a car seat.
Prosecutors say Kayla Styles left the 9-month-old boy in the car seat to nap Nov. 14 and when she checked two hours later she found the baby was slumped down with the seat's straps pressing against his neck.
She told detectives the child had a cough, and she thought sleeping in an elevated position would would be easier for him. She said she then took the baby out of the car seat and put him in a portable crib and summoned her husband who attempted to revive the child, according to prosecutors.
The Argus Leader reports the coroner determined the cause of death was “positional asphyxia due to inappropriate sleep environment.”
Styles, 30, is charged with second-degree manslaughter and abuse of a minor. She was arrested Tuesday. It was not clear if Styles has hired an attorney.
