Man Runs Over Baby With SUV: Infant Killed While Strapped In Car Seat On The Ground

A man runs over a baby in an SUV while he was on the ground strapped in a car seat.

An Iowa baby is dead after being run over by an SUV. CBS 2/Fox 28 reports that the disturbing incident happened Saturday night in Des Moines, Iowa.

Police were called to a home around 6 p.m. According to police, Deanthony Clark, 33, was loading several children into a GMC Yukon. When Clark put the vehicle in drive, the SUV ran over the 4-month-old baby. The child was transported to the hospital and pronounced dead.

Authorities don’t believe the man ran over the baby with the SUV on purpose; they don’t think he knew the infant was even in front of the vehicle. Results of Clark’s blood test are pending to see if he was drunk when he ran over the baby. Officers did report there were beer and liquor cans littered around the resident’s property.

Right now, police are waiting to see if Clark was legally drunk when he hit the baby. If blood results show he was, he could be with vehicular homicide with intoxication, which is a Class B felony punishable for up 25 years in prison.

The Des Moines Register reports that Deanthony Clark is the boy’s father. Another man was with him at the time of the tragedy, Brent Haynes. Police report Clark having bloodshot, watery, eyes and slurred speech.

In a more detailed report on NBC 13, Des Moines Police Sgt. Jason Halifax, tells them what police think.

“We don’t feel it was an intentional act on anyone’s party to strike the child or cause injuries or deaths,” Halifax says.

It took four people to lift the SUV off the baby. They took him to Breland to Blank Children’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

“If test results show his blood alcohol content was.08 or higher, which is the legal limit for drunk driving and death was caused because of that drunk driving, possible charges at a maximum level is vehicular homicide,” Halifax explains.

Halifax says it could take up to 10 days for blood test results to determine if Clark was intoxicated at the time he ran over the baby.

Sgt. Halifax continues:

This is horrendous. I mean there’s really, as bad as your mind can get, there’s really very few things you can probably think of that would be worse than this — especially having to watch it happen.

[Photo Credit: Screenshot via TheDes Moines Register]