A 2-year old Alabama toddler died after drinking methadone spiked grape soda that belong to his babysitter.
It was revealed by the Alabama Police Department that Demonie Hendon, a two year old boy, died on Saturday after he drank his babysitter’s grape soda that contained methadone.
Bessemer Police arrested Cassie Townsend, the 31-year old babysitter of Demonie Hendon and charged her with chemical endangerment exposure to a child resulting in death. The little boy died on Saturday from methadone ingestion.
Cassie Townsend, the child’s babysitter, was watching Demonie on a Friday night when she saw that the soda bottled she had been drinking from that had methadone in it was not where she had left it, she told the police.
As soon as she saw that the bottle had been moved, she went to check in on the little boy, whom she found to be looking very sickly, which led her to suspect that he had to have drunk from the bottle.
Cassie Townsend took the little child to a hospital in Birmingham on Friday night, but she took him back home, shortly after. Later in the day, she found that the boy had become unresponsive, so she rushed him back to the children’s hospital.
Demonie died in the hospital this Saturday, which made police change its charges. The woman was initially charged with child endangerment (chemical endangerment exposure of a child), but after Demonie died, the charged were updated.
At this moment, police are waiting on toxicology reports to confirm that it was indeed methadone in the grape juice that the Alabama toddler ingested. The report, unfortunately, could take several weeks until it is ready.
Methadone is a medication that is used by drug addicts to reduce the withdrawal symptoms of heroin and other narcotics. The powerful drug is usually dispensed at a clinic and patients are supposed to swallow it on-site. They are not allowed to take the methadone away from the facility, it was revealed by the police. An investigation into the clinic that gave Townsend the methadone is expected to begin.
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