(WFIE/WKYT) – Madisonville Police Department officials say a woman is in jail after her child tested positive for fentanyl.
According to a police report, officers responded to a medical emergency Friday, April 10 involving a 3-year-old who was found to be lethargic with shallow breathing.
“Initially, I believe our dispatch was told that it could possibly be chemically related to like a cleaner, a household cleaner. Our officers got there and discovered the child laying on the couch, Major Jason McKnight with the Madisonville Police Department said.” It was conscious at the time but still was very lethargic.”
Officials say the child was transported to the Baptist Health ER and was later intubated and life-flighted to a children’s hospital.
Police say they later discovered that the child tested positive for fentanyl.
Major McKnight says cases like these are difficult, but not uncommon.
“I can’t stress, we’ve had several children somehow getting in contact with fentanyl whether it, I don’t know if it’s on the table, if it’s on the counter. Nobody should be using narcotics in the first place, but I mean, good grief, if you are, I mean at least keep them out of the reach of your children. Especially as young as 3 and 2,” McKnight said.
McKnight says cases like these are unfortunate for the department, regardless if the officer is a parent or not.
“Obviously our officers, whenever a child is involved, regardless if they’re parents or not, and see a child in distress, it’s not a great thing. It’s an unfortunate thing that they see it probably more in their lifetime than anyone else does. But the reality is, you just gotta be professional, put it behind you and that’s the best way to help the child at that point,” McKnight said.
During the investigation, the child’s mother, later identified as Demontasia Thompson, told investigators she had been the only person with the child on this date.
Thompson consented to a drug test that tested positive for fentanyl.
She was booked into the Hopkins County Jail and is being charged with Criminal Abuse of a Child 12 or Under.
Major McKnight says the child has recovered and was discharged from the hospital over the weekend.
He says the boy is currently in the care of an aunt.
