KINGSBRIDGE, BRONX (WABC) — A one-year-old boy has died and three other children have been taken to the hospital after drug paraphernalia was discovered at a day care center in the Bronx.
Emergency crews were called to the Divino Nino Day Care Center at 2707 Morris Ave. in Kingsbridge on Friday afternoon for reports of a cardiac arrest.
Suspected drug production equipment found inside a family day care center resulted in the death of a one-year-old boy and the hospitalization of three other young children.
After the death of the child, Nicholas Dominici, police discovered a kilogram press while executing a search warrant at the house.
“This is a common item used by drug dealers when packaging large quantities of drugs,” NYPD Detective Joseph Kenney said at a news conference overnight.
It’s unclear what types of drugs may be being produced or how children may be exposed to them.
“We don’t know what happened to these babies,” said NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban.
Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said the victim somehow came into contact with “a potent substance that can poison the recipient by inhalation, ingestion or contact with the skin. We are not aware of any specific cases in this case.” what happened.” “
Police said the incident happened after the children finished eating and took a nap. A one-year-old boy was pronounced dead at Montefiore. A two-year-old boy is in critical condition. An eight-month-old girl and another two-year-old boy were also taken to hospital. It was unclear if it was someone who worked at a day care center.
A medical examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of Dominici’s death, and doctors will collect urine and blood from the surviving children to try to identify the drugs they were exposed to.
Two people – the woman who ran the Divino Nino day care center at the time of the tragedy and an unidentified man – are being interviewed by detectives and are expected to be charged.
The day care center, which serves children ages 6 weeks to 12 years old, opened as recently as January and passed a surprise inspection by city inspectors last week, finding no violations.
Investigators revealed the children appeared to have been exposed to an unknown opioid for an extended period of time yesterday. A two-year-old boy came home around 12:15pm and was later discovered by his mother to be “acting drowsy and unresponsive”. His mother rushed him to the hospital, where the opioid reversal drug naloxone saved his life.
Officials said the children who stayed at the day care center ate something and then took a nap around 1 p.m. At 2:30 pm, when the staff went to wake them up, the three were unconscious.
All of the hospitalized children live in the Bronx neighborhood. None are relevant.
After removing the children from the day care center, the fire department tested the air for environmental hazards and found no signs of carbon monoxide. Officers then became suspicious of opioid exposure and executed search warrants in rooms, cabinets and other spaces where the drug packaging device was found.
Law enforcement officials said the day care center was operated out of a converted apartment building and they were still investigating whether anyone was currently living there.
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