Police officer's baby son drowns in bath 'as he argues with estranged wife on phone for 45 minutes'

Raymond Licon Junior put his eleven-month-old son in the bath before stepping away to make a phone call, prosecutors say

Raymond Licon Junior

(El Paso County Detention Facility)

A police officer has been charged with negligent homicide after his infant son drowned in a bath while he argued with his estranged wife over the phone.

Raymond Licon Junior, 27, of the El Paso Police Department in Texas, put his eleven-month old son, Azrael, in the bath before stepping away to make a phone call.

Investigations showed he got into an argument with his wife via text message before continuing on the phone.

Records indicate he called the emergency services 45 minutes after the argument began, at which point the water had overflowed, flooding the upstairs of his flat.

Mr Licon allegedly told a neighbour and responding officers that in the midst of the argument he had forgotten his son was in the bathtub and blamed himself for the death.

Azrael’s grandfather, George Montenegro, revealed his daughter and Mr Licon are currently in the middle of a divorce.

“Pure common sense. You don’t leave a baby in the bathtub. You just don’t do it,” Mr Montenegro told KFOX-TV.

Speaking about his daughter, Mr Montenegro added that she was “emotionally completely broken.”

Mr Licon has been arrested and has been relieved of his duties with the police department.

He has been booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility under a $10,000 (£7,600) bond.