A 25-year-old Seattle woman was charged Tuesday with first-degree manslaughter in the death of her two-year-old son with Down Syndrome. Court documents say that while the death was unintentional, she took actions that put her child at risk.
The boy, one of three children belonging to Nakeeya L Arbogast, was, according to court documents and reports from police, left alone face down in a bathtub the evening of July 9 while it filled with water.
“The State acknowledges this is an exceptionally tragic circumstance, and the defendant has lost a child,” the prosecutor’s office wrote in the case. “However, it is through her own actions, her utter disregard for the safety and well-being of K.O.A. [the child] that he is dead.”
The child, according to documents, was diagnosed with Down Syndrome, and because he is unable to sit up, crawl, or walk without support, he could not do anything to prevent himself from drowning.
According to documentation of conversations between Arbogast and police on the night of her son’s drowning, due to his disability, the boy was developmentally and physically closer to an 11-month-old at the time of his death.
According to court documents, Arbogast called 911 the evening of July 9th, saying that she had just pulled her son out of the water and he was not breathing.
When paramedics arrived, they performed CPR until a pulse was found. Afterward, the child was transported to a nearby children’s hospital.
Court documents say that Arbogast provided officers “multiple” estimates for how long her son may have been in the water, ranging from two to five minutes.
However, documents say that an investigation by the Seattle Police Department Crime Scene investigators found the child was most likely left alone in the water for more than 14 minutes.
Court documents say that in conversations with detectives, Arbogast said she “knew of the risk she placed her child in.”
Two days after the child was taken to the hospital, court documents say he was determined to have died of a hypoxic brain injury, or lack of oxygen to the brain.
Court documents maintain the state does not believe that Arbogast killed her child on purpose; however, the report includes that those near her had heard Arbogast threaten to kill her children before.
According to court documents, Arbogast’s bail was set at $1 million, and additional conditions, including surveillance, were placed on her release before sentencing.
According ot the King County Prosecutor’s office, Arbogast did not have a criminal record prior to the incident. However, the child’s father did have a prior conviction for domestic violence that resulted in a protection order barring him from communicating with Arbogast.
According to the prosecutor’s office, the arraignment is set to continue on July 30.