Two Kingston parents face felony charges after their six-month-old child drowned while unsupervised in a running bathtub “for a substantial amount of time” yesterday evening. Jordan E. Balcom, 29, and Ashante D. Inniss, 26, were charged with criminally negligent homicide.
According to police, responding members of the Kingston Police Department, along with members of the Kingston Fire Department and Mobile Life Ambulance, found the child unresponsive upon responding to a call lodged by the parents from their Gill Street home at approximately 6 p.m. reporting the possible drowning; the child died shortly after they were transported to Kingston Health Alliance Hospital.
Balcom, said police, was charged with the felony of criminally negligent homicide, punishable by a maximum of four years in prison. In addition to the charge of criminally negligent homicide, Inniss was charged with the first-degree felony of criminal contempt stemming from an earlier incident that day in which he allegedly violated a no-harass order of protection. Currently, the pair is being held awaiting their arraignment; representatives from the Kingston Police Department were not immediately available for comment.
The Kingston Police Department was assisted by the Ulster County District Attorney’s office and investigators from the Ulster County Child Advocacy Center.
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