The cries of a 2-year-old girl and her desperate attempts to wake up her mother at a grocery store after she became unresponsive due to heroin overdose was caught on camera, and it has now become viral. Authorities are saying that the mother could be charged with child endangerment.
The woman is reportedly from New Hampshire, but the incident took place in a store in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The store is said to be a Family Dollar branch. The video was recorded on Sunday.
The New York Daily News reported that the woman was revived by emergency medical technicians using two doses of Narcan, an overdose reversal drug. The child was seen beside the mother who was tugging and crying loudly to try and wake her mom up. The child moved from one side to another and the panic was heard from her voice and cries. The child has been taken by the Department of Children and Families while the woman faces criminal charges.
Lawrence Police Chief James Fitzpatrick said in a statement, "It's very disturbing to see someone obviously in the matter of addiction where it overtakes someone where they're not able to take care of their child, leaves their child vulnerable."
According to the Huffington Post, police officials and the people who saw the video were questioning why the video recorder had filmed the scene instead of trying to calm the baby down while waiting for medics. Deanna Cruz, a lady working at an opioid prevention program in Massachusetts, said that the one who had taken the video should have helped the crying child. Deanna wants to see the 36-year-old mother as a person who happens to have an addiction issue.
This is the second time that a child was left unattended while the parents overdosed. Earlier this month, two adults were photographed apparently overdosing in their car while a 4-year-old boy sat in the backseat of the vehicle.
Heroin overdose has been one of the leading causes of death in the United States. More than 10,500 people have died of heroin overdose in 2014.
