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Police investigating Ohio baby’s overdose

WARREN, Ohio (WKBN) – Police said a third child in a little over a year has overdosed in the City of Warren.

The scenario was all too familiar to authorities in Warren.

“The more prevalent that serious drugs, the presence of serious drugs, become in the home, the more we’re gonna see that kind of thing,” said Tim Schaffner, executive director of Trumbull County Children Services.

The latest child overdose happened at Warren Heights on Thursday with an 8-month-old.

The baby girl’s frantic mother called 911 after finding she had stopped breathing.911 call: “Help me please, I cannot lose my baby”

Warren Police Detective Nick Carney was the first to respond. After the third round of mouth-to-mouth and compressions, the baby finally came to but still had shallow breathing.

EMTs took the baby to Trumbull Memorial Hospital and she was then transferred to Akron Children’s Hospital’s main campus. Hospital staff did a drug screen, which came back positive for opiates.

Investigators believe the child ate an illegal narcotic but are still waiting for test results to confirm exactly what the drug was.

“All we know, for a fact, is that a kid ingested something, an opiate, and we should know, hopefully by tomorrow or the next couple days, exactly what that was,” Carney said.

He said the child was placed on a naloxone drip, an opioid reversal drug. The child has since been released from the hospital and it appears the baby will be okay.

“Our main goal is we want to figure out how an 8-month-old who cannot walk got ahold of an opiate, enough to ingest it and then to overdose,” Carney said.

This marks the third child who has overdosed in Warren in just over a year.

Carlisa Davis, 19, was convicted on two felony counts of child endangering in January. Her two kids, ages 9 months and 21 months, overdosed in February of 2016 after eating heroin.

Child advocates are making this plea to parents:

“If you’re using and you’re not ready to quit getting high, take care of your kids. Have a family member take care of your children. If you don’t have anyone that is trustworthy, call us,” Schaffner said.

Charges have not yet been filed in this case. Police said they’re still in the very beginning stages of the investigation but will be speaking with the prosecutor’s office to determine if charges should be filed against one or both parents.

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