A 30-year-old Pelican Rapids man has been charged with manslaughter and assault in connection with the death of his girlfriend's 5-month-old son, police said.
Pedro Larios Mendoza is being held in the Otter Tail County Jail on charges of first-degree manslaughter and first-degree assault, Pelican Rapids Police Investigator Ross Blakeway said.
According to Blakeway:
Mendoza was watching the boy Friday night at their home at 703 N. Broadway while his girlfriend was at work at the Jennie-O turkey plant in Pelican Rapids. He went to the plant to tell her what had happened to the child, and the girlfriend's coworker called 911 at 10:04 p.m. Mendoza returned to the home.
An officer arrived at the residence and started CPR. The boy had sustained serious injuries, Blakeway said, declining to be more specific.
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The infant was taken by ambulance to Lake Region Healthcare in Fergus Falls and then airlifted to Sanford Medical Center in Fargo, where he died at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
Mendoza was arrested at the home. No one else was home at the time, Blakeway said.
The infant's body was sent to the Ramsey County medical examiner's office for an autopsy.
