A Michigan couple are facing felony charges after a drunk friend of their teenage children plummeted to his death from a condo’s fourth-floor balcony while they were vacationing in Florida in April, according to a report.
Jeremiah and Susan Benedict are charged with neglect of a child with great bodily harm in connection to the death of Anthony Holman, 17, in Destin, Fla., according to WZZM 13.
The Benedicts were staying at the facility with their children — 15 and 17 — their 18-year-old nephew and Holman.
Holman, who had a blood/alcohol level of .206 and had THC in his system, toppled from the balcony between 2 and 4 a.m. on April 4, police said.
Asked by police if Holman had been drinking, Jeremiah Benedict replied: “I don’t know. It’s possible.”
He said he and his wife saw the teens on the balcony when they came home late, the station reported.
Susan Benedict said there was beer in the fridge and the teens were grabbing a few “here and there,” but that she was “trying to discourage them.”
Their nephew told police that he and Holman were “drinking a lot of beer, a good amount,” and characterized himself as being “pretty drunk.”
The 18-year-old said he tried to wake Holman up at one point to get him to turn off his Bluetooth speaker but Holman was “out cold.”
Asked if Holman was drunk enough to have fallen, he answered: “I don’t know. Probably.”
Photos that police found on the nephew’s phone showed him and Holman wearing empty beer boxes on their heads with beer and liquor bottles in their hands.
The last photo showed Holman sitting on a couch on the balcony near a table with shot glasses and a liquor bottle.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office in Florida said the Benedicts were charged because they failed their responsibility as caregivers to provide supervision.
