A five-year-old boy tragically died after consuming "weird-tasting" apple juice.
On Sunday, March 23, around 5:30PM, police responded to an emergency call at an apartment in the 2400 block of Beach Court in Riviera Beach, Florida, where a young boy had reportedly stopped breathing, NBC News reported.
Paramedics arrived to find the child unresponsive. According to an arrest report, a babysitter at the scene told officers she saw the five-year-old grab a bottle of apple juice and take a sip before immediately spitting it out and saying it “tasted weird".
Shortly after, the boy began shivering and shaking, said he felt cold, and started sweating. Rashes appeared across his front, back, and arms.
The babysitter said the boy suddenly went still, his head dropping forward. She began administering CPR, during which he vomited what was described in the report as “black stuff” and displayed seizure-like symptoms.
The child was transported to St. Mary’s Hospital in critical condition. Despite medical efforts, he later died.
Hospital toxicology tests showed the five-year-old had methamphetamine in his system, and police said a field drug test on his mother, Heather Opsincs, 37, also came back positive, twice.
Though Opsincs initially denied using any illegal drugs or recently consuming any recreational substances, investigators said she failed the tests, and a court-ordered search of the home painted a grim picture.
Inside the one-room apartment, officers reportedly discovered six glass cylinder pipes that tested positive for meth. The arrest report described the home as “unkempt” and “rather deplorable,” with trash and rotting food scattered throughout.
Opsincs was arrested and charged with neglect aggravated manslaughter in connection with her son’s death.
“Her negligence exposed (the child) to dangerous drugs and an inhabitable environment that caused his death,” police wrote in court documents, per the New York Post.
The mom made her first court appearance on March 25, where a judge barred her from contacting witnesses or any minor children.
She is currently being held in Palm Beach County Jail with a bond set at $100,000.
As a condition of her release, she is banned from consuming drugs or alcohol, cannot possess any firearms or weapons, and must submit to random drug testing at her own expense.
She is scheduled to appear in court on April 22.