HASTINGS, Minn. -- After a night of drinking and celebrating last October, Nathan Savage went to bed in his Eagan home and took his infant son with him, prosecutors say.
Early the next morning, he awoke to his fiancée frantically asking where the baby was. Savage jumped out of bed and discovered the infant had been beneath him.
The boy was cold and not moving. Savage knew he was dead, he told police, because he was as “white as a ghost.”
Now Savage, 30, is charged with manslaughter and child neglect in his son’s death.
Two-month-old Nolan Sikich died Oct. 19. Savage was charged Tuesday in Dakota County District Court.
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He is jailed, with bail set at $50,000, or $10,000 with conditions.
According to the charges:
Savage, his fiancée and friends had been drinking the previous night to celebrate the couple’s anniversary. His fiancée went to bed before him.
Nolan was “fussing” in a bouncy chair, so Savage gave him a bottle and took him to bed with him, laying the infant’s head on his chest.
He said he’d done it so many times before because he wanted Nolan to be close to him, according to the charges.
Infants should not sleep with adults, in adult beds or in other environments that contain suffocation hazards, according to the National Institute of Child Health.
Emergency responders, called about 6 a.m., weren’t able to revive Nolan, and he was pronounced dead at a hospital around 7:20 a.m.
The medical examiner determined the cause of death to be asphyxia. The death was ruled accidental.
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Emergency responders said they saw Savage’s fiancée hitting him while screaming: “You killed him! What did you do?”
In all, Savage is charged with three counts of second-degree manslaughter, a felony, one count of gross misdemeanor child neglect and one count of gross misdemeanor child endangerment.
His next court date is May 27.
The Pioneer Press is a media partner with Forum News Service.
