Dad Charged After Toddler Dies in 8th-Floor Fall in Brooklyn Center
Photo via Google Streetview
A Texas man is facing manslaughter charges in Hennepin County after his 3-year-old child fell from an 8th-floor apartment window and died this spring.
Authorities say that on May 18, 2024, Brooklyn Center officers were dispatched to an apartment complex after getting a report of a child who had fallen from a window.
When officers arrived, they found the child on the ground with life-threatening injuries. Paramedics were called but ultimately declared the child dead at the scene.
According to the criminal complaint, the child had fallen from a living room window in the apartment where the father, Saleban Abdullahi Duale, 30, had been staying with his brother and other children. Duale initially told officers that he had left the room for a moment before the child fell. But officers observed that a couch was positioned directly in front of the open window. Duale reportedly said the child had been sitting on the back of the couch before falling out of the window.
The child’s siblings told investigators that Duale was lying on a bed in another room at the time of the incident, while another sibling reported that he had been on the phone all day and was not present in the living room.
Duale is charged with second-degree manslaughter for allegedly causing the child’s death by neglect. He is not currently in custody and has been summoned to appear in court.
If convicted, Duale faces up to 10 years in prison.
> See more of our latest coverage
