Deputies arrested a 33-year-old Thurston County mother after her 18-month-old child overdosed on fentanyl on Tuesday.
The woman was booked into the county jail on suspicion of third-degree assault of a child, according to the jail log. Her child survived the overdose, but deputies placed them and another child in protective custody, Thurston County Sheriff's Lt. Cameron Simper told The Olympian.
The incident started before 10 a.m. Tuesday on the 3700 block of Carpenter Road Northeast, Simper said. The woman reportedly flagged a passerby to call 911 after noticing her child was unresponsive.
Medics transported the child to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia where they administered Narcan to reverse the overdose. The child improved but he was later transferred to Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in Tacoma due to his condition, according to court records.
The hospital detected fentanyl in the child's system and informed deputies. Later that afternoon, Simper said deputies returned to arrest the mother, who appeared to be using opioids.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that's 50-100 times stronger than morphine and is often mixed with other substances without the user's knowledge.
Overdose deaths involving fentanyl more than doubled from 51 deaths in 2021 to at least 114 deaths in 2022, Coroner Gary Warnock told the Board of Health on Tuesday.
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