26-year-old man has been charged with
involuntary manslaughter more than a
year after he hugged a 14-month-old
child so tightly that the boy stopped
breathing and died, Orangeburg County
Sheriff Leroy Ravenell said Wednesday.
Robert Kemp was taken into custody
Tuesday and released on $10,000 bond
the next day. Kemp is described as a
family friend in a news release from
Ravenell.
An arrest warrant said Kemp killed the
child “by giving him a bear hug,
squeezing the victim so tight that the
victim stopped breathing as a result.”
Jaylen Harris died from asphyxiation, on
June 27, 2013, Orangeburg County Chief
Deputy Coroner Sean Fogle said.
Kemp told deputies he was playing with
the child when he started to rub his eyes
like he was tired, so he put the toddler
in his crib on his back with his bottle,
according to an incident report.
Kemp said he went to the kitchen to do
some chores and realized he hadn’t
heard the boy in a while. He went back
into the bedroom and noticed the
toddler on his stomach, unconscious with
his hands balled into fists, according to
the report.
Another person in the home, whose name
was blacked out on the report, started
CPR, but the boy could not be
resuscitated, according to the report.
If convicted, Kemp faces up to five
years in prison.
The sheriff’s release didn’t say why it
took a year to bring charges, and a
spokeswoman for the sheriff said in an
email no more information would be
released.
Kemp lives in Columbia, and a woman
who identified herself as his mother
when she answered the phone offered to
give her son a message that was not
returned.
The boy’s family created a website at
GiveForward.com and is asking for
donations to help cover his funeral
costs.
“Baby Jaylen Harris passed away in his
sleep of natural causes. He was 14
months old. He was the sweetest,
happiest baby you would ever meet. He
was a blessing and a joy to this family,”
they wrote on the website.
A message left at a phone number listed
for the baby’s mother was not returned.
involuntary manslaughter more than a
year after he hugged a 14-month-old
child so tightly that the boy stopped
breathing and died, Orangeburg County
Sheriff Leroy Ravenell said Wednesday.
Robert Kemp was taken into custody
Tuesday and released on $10,000 bond
the next day. Kemp is described as a
family friend in a news release from
Ravenell.
An arrest warrant said Kemp killed the
child “by giving him a bear hug,
squeezing the victim so tight that the
victim stopped breathing as a result.”
Jaylen Harris died from asphyxiation, on
June 27, 2013, Orangeburg County Chief
Deputy Coroner Sean Fogle said.
Kemp told deputies he was playing with
the child when he started to rub his eyes
like he was tired, so he put the toddler
in his crib on his back with his bottle,
according to an incident report.
Kemp said he went to the kitchen to do
some chores and realized he hadn’t
heard the boy in a while. He went back
into the bedroom and noticed the
toddler on his stomach, unconscious with
his hands balled into fists, according to
the report.
Another person in the home, whose name
was blacked out on the report, started
CPR, but the boy could not be
resuscitated, according to the report.
If convicted, Kemp faces up to five
years in prison.
The sheriff’s release didn’t say why it
took a year to bring charges, and a
spokeswoman for the sheriff said in an
email no more information would be
released.
Kemp lives in Columbia, and a woman
who identified herself as his mother
when she answered the phone offered to
give her son a message that was not
returned.
The boy’s family created a website at
GiveForward.com and is asking for
donations to help cover his funeral
costs.
“Baby Jaylen Harris passed away in his
sleep of natural causes. He was 14
months old. He was the sweetest,
happiest baby you would ever meet. He
was a blessing and a joy to this family,”
they wrote on the website.
A message left at a phone number listed
for the baby’s mother was not returned.
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