{"id":5959,"date":"2026-08-02T11:38:36","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T11:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=5959"},"modified":"2026-08-02T11:38:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T11:38:36","slug":"florida-dad-kills-infant-son-with-leafblower-allegedly-claiming-he-thought-it-would-be-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=5959","title":{"rendered":"Florida dad kills infant son with leafblower \u2014 allegedly claiming he thought it would be fun"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A Florida dad who allegedly admitted he thought it\u2019d be fun to use a leaf blower on his infant son has been charged with murder.<\/p>\n

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James Westervelt, 38, was charged with first-degree murder on Thursday \u2014 two years after his six-month-old died in the hospital, WAFF48 reported.<\/p>\n

Police said the child was just two months old when Westervelt allegedly blew air recklessly at him with the blower for a laugh.<\/p>\n

The baby was placed on life support, but died in August 2024. His cause of death was blunt force trauma caused by bouncing, according to the outlet. <\/p>\n

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Westervelt, who was previously facing child abuse charges stemming from the fatal incident, remains in custody in Marion County and is due back in court in September. <\/p>\n

The Bellevue man was previously charged with possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia in May, according to court records. His next scheduled court date on these charges is on Aug. 5 for a pretrial conference.<\/p>\n

Westervelt\u2019s attorney and the Marion County Sheriff\u2019s Office did not immediately return requests for comment. <\/p>\n

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Florida father James Westervelt, 38, was charged with murder after allegedly using a leaf blower on his infant son, who later died due to blunt force trauma caused by bouncing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"yoast_head":"\nFlorida dad kills infant son with leafblower \u2014 allegedly claiming he thought it would be fun - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=5959\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Florida dad kills infant son with leafblower \u2014 allegedly claiming he thought it would be fun - 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