A 17-month-old lady has died of fentanyl poisoning in Riverside County — including one other case to a rising roster of fatalities that appears to know no boundary on the age or circumstance of the victims.
The infant’s loss of life stays beneath investigation, and authorities are releasing few particulars, however on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m., sheriff’s deputies from the Norco station responded to a report of a kid needing medical assist within the 100 block of eighth Road.
Deputies arrived to seek out the kid not respiratory.
“Life saving measures had been performed by deputies and Cal-Fireplace however the juvenile was unresponsive and was pronounced deceased,” the Riverside County Sheriff’s Division introduced in a information launch.
“The loss of life of any baby is heartbreaking, particularly one that would have been prevented,” mentioned Sgt. Deirdre Vickers, public info officer for the Sheriff’s Division. “It’s unlucky that the rise of fentanyl use in our communities is now resulting in the loss of life of harmless youngsters.”
In 2021, there have been 1,557 pediatric deaths from fentanyl, together with 40 infants and 93 youngsters ages 1 to 4, in line with a new research.
Investigators shortly concluded that fentanyl performed a job within the loss of life of the kid, whose title has not been launched. Officers arrested the kid’s mom, Jennifer Johanna Allen, 32, inside an hour of the decision for assist, in line with jail data.
No particulars have been launched concerning why foul play or felony negligence was suspected.
Allen was charged with one rely of homicide and one felony rely of kid endangerment, which might embody willfully harming a baby or exposing a baby to hurt.
Jennifer Johanna Allen was arrested in reference to the fentanyl loss of life of her 17-month-old daughter.
(Riverside County Sheriff’s Division)
The breadth of tales underlying fentanyl-linked deaths is huge, together with these of teenagers and kids. Some youths had been making an attempt to hurt themselves; some had been simply making an attempt to get excessive and by no means realized that their drug of selection was spiked with lethal fentanyl. Others had merely purchased what they thought was a secure medicine on-line. And, in fact, a child will put nearly something in its mouth.
Authorized opioids additionally pose a lethal threat. Researchers say secure storage and disposal of prescription medicine is required to assist hold youngsters from hurt.
Better emphasis must be placed on hurt discount, consultants say, together with growing entry to the overdose reversal drug naloxone, often known as Narcan, in houses.
The L.A. faculty system is amongst these that’s stocking Narcan at colleges and with its law enforcement officials — within the wake of the overdose loss of life of a pupil at Bernstein Excessive in September. The district additionally permits college students to hold Narcan with parental permission. Narcan has been administered 26 occasions at colleges within the months because the Bernstein loss of life.
Bail was set at $1 million on every rely for Allen, who stays in custody at Robert Presley Detention Heart in Riverside, in line with official data.
