Father charged after leaving baby in bathtub while he scrolled on his phone in another room, police say

COVINGTON, Ky. (WXIX/Gray News) — A father in Kentucky is facing charges after allegedly leaving his baby unattended in a bathtub while he scrolled on his phone in another room.

Police in Covington said they were called to an apartment Tuesday for a report of an infant not breathing.

According to a citation, the baby girl was found unresponsive after being left in a bathtub filled with water.

The child’s father, 20-year-old Seffan Mederious, is accused of leaving the child alone in the bathtub for about five minutes.

Mederious reportedly told police he was in another room scrolling on his phone, and when he returned, he found his daughter floating in the water.

According to the citation, Mederious took the baby to a relative’s house, who called 911.

The baby was rushed to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Police said she is expected to make a full recovery.

“I do know that when police arrived on the scene, Mr. Mederious had fled the residence and was found hiding at a nearby relative’s residence, so he didn’t stick around to help police and firefighters, and he didn’t respond to the hospital to see how the baby was doing. He felt it more important to run away from the scene,” Rob Sanders, the Kenton County commonwealth’s attorney, said.

Mederious is charged with wanton endangerment and criminal abuse.

He was in court Wednesday for a preliminary hearing, and the case is expected to head to a grand jury.

“We take children’s safety very seriously in Kenton County,” Sanders said. “We don’t expect parents to be perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but they can’t do things that place their child at the risk of serious injury or death or there’s going to be consequences for it.”