7 young children, including toddlers, overdosed on sleeping pills; 3 remain in serious condition
By Mike-Ross
Seven kids in Virginia had to be hospitalized after one of them handed out sleeping pills to the others who overdosed on it. Authorities arrived at an apartment off 100 South, 16th Avenue in Hopewell and found four children, ages 1,2,3, and 4, unresponsive, lethargic, but breathing on Wednesday night. Meanwhile, three others, who were in a different room, were awake but very lethargic, per WTVR-TV.
Wasting no time, officials rushed all the kids to the Chippenham hospital where the condition of four stabilized, and is expected to recover soon. Unfortunately, the rest of the three kids, a 1-year-old, a 2-year-old, and a 3-year-old remained in serious condition. "They are expected to recover, but because they don’t know exactly how much of the prescription medication they ingested… so they are having a harder time processing and metabolizing [the drug]," revealed authorities.
The shocking incident unfolded after the mom of three of the kids had dropped them off at a house where the other four children lived with their mother. The second woman was supposed to babysit all of them but shortly after 5 p.m., she left her children unsupervised to quickly run an errand at the corner store, according to the Hopewell Police Department.
When she arrived home, the mother noticed that all seven kids "weren't acting right" but did not think much of it. On noticing an empty prescription pill bottle lying on the floor she realized that the children must have gotten to it. Thus, she called 911 at that point. "They were left unsupervised for a short period of time, and one of the kids that has prescription medication got into it and shared with the other children," revealed Lieutenant Cheyenne Casal. Police believe that it is a case of overdose or poisoning.
It's unknown how the children got their hands on the prescription pills or whose medication they are. The mom who was supposed to look after the kids that night initially told officers that she did inform a man, who was in the house, that she was leaving. But later, the mom admitted that she may not have clearly communicated the fact that she expected him to watch the kids. It's not yet clear if there was a man in the house at the time the mom left to go to a store, reports WRIC.
The Hopewell Police Department and DCF are both investigating the case but charges have been filed yet. The Commonwealth Attorney's Office has also been kept in the loop in case, authorities decide to charge anyone involved.
Cover image source: YouTube Screenshot | WRIC ABC 8News
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