A 5-year-old child who died after being found unconscious inside his Bronx home over the weekend had methadone in his system, police officials said.
According to police sources, officers from the 48th Precinct rushed to an apartment near 183rd Street and Bassford Avenue at around 3:35 a.m. on July 14 after a 42-year-old father reported that he couldn’t wake up his 5-year-old son.
When officers arrived, police reported that the EMS were already trying to perform life-saving measures. The child was rushed to Saint Barnabas Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 4:31 a.m.
Medical staff did not notice any signs of injury but decided to perform additional tests on July 15. Those tests, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said, found methadone in the boy’s system.
“We know that the dad does use methadone. We do a search warrant at the location where we recover several empty baggies containing residue from an unknown substance. Those bags have been sent to the lab and we found some Narcan there,” Chief Kenny said.
While the contents of the baggies found at the scene has not yet been determined, police sources noted that methadone is not contained in small bags.
Residents at the house told police that the boy had felt lethargic in the hours leading up to his death, and also vomited and avoided eating. The child’s young siblings were also in the home at the time.
As of Thursday, no charges have been filed in the ongoing investigation. Police noted that the boy’s father has one prior arrest after allegedly assaulting the mother of one of his children in 2018. Sources familiar with the case stated that the Administration for Children’s Services had previously investigated the father for several neglect complaints.
