An Arkansas man has been charged with manslaughter in the drowning death of his 11-month-old son following a four-month investigation.
James Dawson, 31, is also charged with endangering the welfare of a minor, according to the NEA Report.
Police were called to the home in Lepanto at about 7:30 p.m. on October 2, 2025, when the baby boy had been taken to Le Bonheur hospital. The infant died the next day.
The baby’s mother told police that she had left home to a feed a dog at her father’s house, and while she was gone, Dawson put the infant in the bath and apparently left the water running. When she came home, she said, she heard the water running and asked Dawson why. “Oh s***, the baby’s in there,” was his response, an affidavit said.
They rushed into the bathroom and found the boy face down in the tub. Dawson began CPR while the mother called 911.
Dawson confirmed the mother’s story, adding that he had left their other two children in a room watching a tablet and playing while he prepared the bath for the baby, who was getting fussy.
He said he left the baby alone in with the bath water running while he went to seat the other two children at the table for dinner, but they argued because they didn’t want to eat what the mother had prepared.
Then, he said, he took a bowl and sat down to eat because it just “‘slipped’ his mind” that he’d left the baby in the tub. The nother returned “probably a minute later,” he said.
Dawson was arrested on February 3 and promptly released. A bond and court date were not listed.
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[Featured image: James Dawson/Poinsett County Sheriff’s Office]