NEW YORK — A Staten Island baby being cared for by his three-time felon father died after ingesting a lethal mix of fentanyl and cocaine, police said Wednesday.
Little Sakani Kamagate was just 16 months old when he died — and the city Medical Examiner deemed his death a homicide this week, police said.
The boy was being watched by his father, Adam Kamagate, inside the dad’s home on Hamilton Ave. near Academy Place in St. George when he full unconscious in bed, police said. Nobody has been criminally charged in connection to the death as police continue to investigate.
The dad called 911 at 4:07 a.m. on Feb. 20 and medics rushed Sakani to Richmond University Medical Center, where he died later that day.
The infant was already in rigor mortis when he was brought to the hospital, a police source said.
“He was rushed to the emergency room where doctors tried all they could to revive him,” an online fundraiser for the family says. “He was later pronounced dead.”
An autopsy later revealed the tot died from ingesting drugs. It was not immediately clear who brought the drugs into the home, where the drugs were kept or how Sakani came in contact with them.
Kamagate told police he picked up Sakani from his mother’s home between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. the night before and that the the baby appeared fine. Father and son had dinner at 10 p.m. and Sakani went to sleep about 1 a.m., the dad told cops
About 4 a.m. Kamagate woke up and found Sakani unconscious.
Kamagate’s uncle had been at the dad’s home for a brief time but left before dinner, Kamagate told police.
A few days after his son’s death, as a drug overdose was suspected, Kamagate stopped cooperating with police and demanded a lawyer, sources said.
A search warrant on his home the night after Sakani’s death turned up heroin and several cellphones stashed in a pair of sweatpants, police sources said.
The boy’s maternal family, who call the boy Sakani Joy, remembered him fondly in an online obituary.
“Sakani was a super smart, adorable, loving, sweet baby who loved being around family,” the tribute reads. “He enjoyed hanging with his siblings, watching Sesame Street, and dancing whenever he heard music. Sakani also loved to help his mommy clean and care for his new little brother. Although Sakani did not have much time on this earth; he touched many hearts with his bright, vibrant spirit.”
“We find comfort in knowing he is in heaven,” the message adds.
Kamagate dad has 28 arrests on his record and did three stints in state prison between 2003 and 2020 — twice for weapon possession and once for drug possession. He was also a suspect in a 2012 Staten Island homicide and a 2014 non-fatal shooting, police said.
After being paroled from prison in August 2008 for a weapon charge he was caught on an NYPD camera firing shots in the air outside the West Brighton Houses.
The shooting brought a massive police response and Kamagate and his friends surrendered just as cops were preparing to take down their door, the Staten Island Advance reported at the time.
He was convicted of weapon possession and released in February 2012. A few months later, cops formally named Kamagate as a suspect in the May 5 Staten Island shooting death of Justin Stokes, 21, in Mariner’s Harbor. Three others were wounded by gunfire.
At the time Kamagate had escaped to Pennsylvania, where the NYPD and U.S. Marshals raided at least two places where they thought he was hiding.
He was arrested in 2013 and convicted of attempted criminal possession of a weapon, court records show, but it wasn’t clear if the gun charge was linked to the Stokes murder. He was ultimately paroled in April 2014.
Seven months later, Kamagate was busted in Binghamton with 283 packets of heroin on him, officials said. He was convicted of attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance and was sentenced to four years in prison. He was paroled in August 2019.
His parole ended in 2020.
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