HOUSTON -- A father has been accused of killing his infant son with cocaine, KPRC Local 2 reported Thursday.

Houston police said 8-month-old Dennis Ray Driver Jr. died at Ben Taub Hospital on Dec. 29 after being rushed from his home in the 5600 block of Selinsky Road.

Driver told authorities that he fell asleep Dec. 28 with his 8-month-old son, Dennis Jr., lying on his chest at their apartment. When Driver awoke, he found the baby wasn't breathing, authorities said. Paramedics tried to revive the baby as he was being rushed to a hospital, but he died the next day.

In-depth forensic tests conducted by the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office found that there was cocaine in Dennis' blood and stomach, police said.

Dennis' death was ruled a homicide, officials said.

A grand jury indicted Dennis' father, Dennis Ray Driver Sr., on Tuesday.

Driver, 25, was arrested at his apartment and was charged with murder.

Neighbors remembered when the baby was taken away by ambulance.

"Man, I was crying. I was crying. I was crying for (him). I was there at the ambulance, but they wouldn't let us see," neighbor Lacrecha Madden said.

Prosecutors said they do not believe Driver fed the cocaine to his son, but said he apparently allowed the child access to the drug.

"We really don't know how the child ingested the cocaine. We don't believe that it was intentionally done. But, of course, the father does have a history of drug use. So, somehow with handling the baby and taking care of the baby, the baby was able to ingest this," said Estella Olguin with Child Protective Services.

Olguin said another child was living in the apartment. That child has been placed with a mother's aunt.

"Well, she's going to have to prove that her environment's going to be safe. That she's not going to expose her child to either people who are involved in dangerous activities and that she, herself, can protect that child in the future," she said.

Harris County prosecutor Murray Newman said Driver was charged with murder because the infant died while Driver was committing another felony, possessing cocaine.

Driver has a criminal record dating to 1998, records show. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail last July for drug possession and was given a two-year prison term in 2004, also for narcotics.