Drugs And Children: After 7-Year-Old Ohio Boy Overdoses, Hospital Finds Heroin Baggie, Prescription Pills In His Sock

The parents of a 7-year-old boy from Cleveland, Ohio, were arrested and charged this week after their son overdosed on heroin. Charles Dowdy and Danielle Simko, both 31, were accused of endangering children and drug possession.

Police arrived at the couple’s home Jan. 11 because the boy apparently wasn’t breathing. Dowdy, the boy’s father, told police that he, his wife, and the boy were lying in bed at about 10:30 p.m. Dowdy said he woke up and noticed his son had stopped breathing and his lips started to turn blue, according to local reports. That’s when he called 911. Once inside, officers found the child laying unresponsive in the living room. Dowdy was giving the boy chest compressions to try to resuscitate him.

An officer stepped in and located a pulse on the boy. The child was quickly transported to Southwest General Health Center for treatment where he made a full recovery. At the hospital, employees found a baggie of heroin and prescription pills tucked inside the boy’s sock, records said, Cleveland media reported.

Dowdy told police he was using drugs in the house earlier in the day, records said. Police arrested Dowdy and Simko on the spot.

The couple was held on $150,000 bond afte they appeared in Berea Municipal Court. They were due in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Friday.

The death-rate for heroin, fentanyl and other opiate deaths have risen steeply from 64 in 2011 to at least 517 in 2016, according to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office.

There was a total of 46 fatal heroin and fentanyl overdose cases in January, the office calculated. Records showed that Cleveland police identified 14 suspected fatal opiate overdoses in one weekend earlier this month.