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Toddler chewed heroin baggie while mother overdosed, police say

Posted at 10:15 PM, Feb 05, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-06 00:15:17-05

UPPER DARBY, Pa. – A Pennsylvania toddler is recovering after ingesting heroin while the child’s mother overdosed Monday evening, according to Upper Darby Police.

The 16-month-old’s father returned home to find the child and his girlfriend, the boy’s mother, unconscious, according to KYW-TV.

Police say the baby is believed to have chewed on a discarded plastic baggie that held the drug.

Upper Darby police tweeted that the boy is “lucky to be alive after being treated at a hospital.”

KYW reports that responders used Narcan to save the baby, and that the mother is also alive.

“In my opinion, when children get into mom and dad or guardians’ habits, and those habits are drug addiction, then why should the poor child suffer?” said Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood. “They are putting that baby in harm’s way. They are putting that baby at great human danger, and they deserve to be punished the way the law can punish them.”

Charges are pending after investigators executing a search warrant reportedly found additional empty bags of heroin in the home.