13-Month-Old Boy Overdoses On Prescription Pills From Bottle Given To Him As A Rattle

A bottle of pills may have been behind the Friday morning death of a 13-month-old Bronx boy.

According to the Daily News, the parents of Edwin Perocier Jr. may have given him a prescription pill bottle to use as a rattle prior to the incident. However, whether the father's prescription bottle was given to the child as a rattle or he accidentally picked it up is a bit unclear. One way or another it seems the child was playing with the bottle, using it as a noisemaker, before opening and consuming the pills inside.

Police responded to the Bronx residence around 8 a.m. Friday to find the boy unconscious and unresponsive, according to CBS New York. He was later pronounced dead at Lincoln Hospital.

An autopsy will confirm whether or not the pills were ultimately responsible for the child's death, according to ABC News.

The Daily News reported earlier this morning that both parents had been charged with reckless endangerment, but police also told 1010 WINS that they were being talked to and had not yet been arrested. Other sources, such as the New York Post have also posted more recent articles stating that the parents are yet to have been charged in the boy's death.

Comments

[Marceline Crutchfield]

11:00 AM on 10/18/2011

Something is very wrong with this picture.

[calihlove75]

02:19 PM on 10/17/2011

How did two heroin addicts even have custody of this child? The state should have NEVER left that child under their care.

[Hillary Wentz]

10:45 AM on 10/17/2011

How could they NOT be charged? They obviously had the pills where they were accessible to a 13 month old child. Also, there was obviously not enough adequate supervision. How would you not notice that your child was opening a pill bottle and putting the pills in their mouth?? As for those of you saying that the parents were addicted to pills, there's no proof of that. Either way though, it's a result of irresponsible parenting.

[NYCKitty]

12:56 PM on 10/17/2011

FACT - parents are heroin addicts living in a shelter.

[Hillary Wentz]

03:19 PM on 10/17/2011

No where in this article is that stated. If it's in another article, then I really wish it had been mentioned in this one too.

[emmeaki]

09:42 PM on 10/16/2011

If the baby was found unresponsive at 8 am, when did he take the pills? Did the parents not notice something was wrong before that point?

[KadejaLatefah]

08:54 PM on 10/16/2011

why aren't parents required to have pre-baby training!! seriously - a 12 year old babysitter knows to NEVER leave a pill bottle near a baby - why don't these "parents?"

[holyghostie]

10:54 PM on 10/16/2011

The pills were prescribed for someone with an addiction to opiate drugs....so thinking clearly not their best suit.

Its a shame that baby had to be born to these two. I hope the GOP pays for the funeral.

[NYCKitty]

12:50 PM on 10/17/2011

Both parents are heroin addicts living in a shelter. Nice.

[evelynranma52]

03:49 PM on 10/16/2011

I am really beginning to believe that today's parents are either totally stupid or just simply don't give a damned after the children are born. What an absolutely assinine thing to do!

[CateManhattan]

02:25 PM on 10/16/2011

The Huff Post article fails to say that both parents were heroin abusers taking step-down narcotics, or that the father is 27 years older than the mother. The father has a long rap sheet. They are living in homeless shelter housing.

Social services should have been providing parenting skills services to this family.

[NYCKitty]

12:51 PM on 10/17/2011

So it's the fault of social services? When does personal responsibility come into play?

[raegrant5]

01:40 PM on 10/16/2011

Although I think giving a child a pill bottle as a toy is assinine, I do know that young parents don't know all the problems a baby can get into. The only person who can open a child proof lid is a child. Them little boogers can get into anything. I raised 5 of them myself and it took a lot of energy to keep up with them, but I never left anything "bad" where they could get to it. Sh** happens, children can die from anything very very quickly! When I was working I saw a lot of children die in some strange ways. It is always sad but it just shows that if you take your eyes off of them for even one minute, it could be deadly. I know the parents are going through the worst thing you can ever imagine, the death of your child is a wound that really never heals and then to know that it was your fault, well that has to be a death of your heart.

[Lightwins]

12:49 PM on 10/16/2011

How tragic. These parents must be in terrible grief. All prescription pill bottles should be child-proofed.

[evelynranma52]

03:50 PM on 10/16/2011

They are child proofed if you let them know that you have small children in the home.

[GeorgeSI]

04:44 AM on 10/16/2011

How irresponsible could a parent be?!?! You find the bottle open and see a pill is wet and you don't immediately rush the child to the E.R. ? Maybe Mommy's stand on abortion was retroactive or these are candidates for parents of the year. Stupid!! At least they took the other child out of the home before something tragic happened to that kid.

[Samantha Espinoza]

01:27 AM on 10/16/2011

...But I, a married lesbian, shouldn't have a child for fear of corrupting it... I'd never give any kid a bottle of pills to use as ANYTHING.

[ords44]

11:07 AM on 10/16/2011

is this Joking or serious?

[evelynranma52]

03:51 PM on 10/16/2011

This is about a stupid act by equally stupid parents, it has nothing to do with your sexual orientation, now does it?

[dmdavidt]

09:08 PM on 10/15/2011

how does a baby eat a bottle of pills and nobody sees it. I would think the fine motor skills of a 13 month old child wouldn't even be good enough to handle the pills without them being spilled all over. maybe the article was generalizing and he only ate one or two. i'm sure it wouldn't take too many to harm a baby.

[lemealone]

11:37 PM on 10/15/2011

Dont know much about much, do you?

[dmdavidt]

02:31 PM on 10/16/2011

ya, you are right. I am just very lucky mine grew up healthy and didn't swallow some of the thousands of pills we've had in our house due to chronic health condition. Any of them could kill an infant. Guess what, we kept them out of reach. I know that much.

[cuckooforcocopuffs]

10:41 AM on 10/16/2011

What makes you think idiots who would give a baby a bottle of pills for entertainment have the intelligence to also keep an eye on him?? Duh.

[dmdavidt]

02:34 PM on 10/16/2011

yes, truthfully from things i've seen in my job I believe that it is a miracle half of the babies in the world don't die before their first birthday. You can tell people that what they are doing is dangerous to the baby and then you see them again and they are doing the same thing. So, pillows keep smothering, tv sets keep falling and pills keep being eaten. Some people are just clueless.

[Charles Elk]

07:36 PM on 10/15/2011

Darwin award for the parent responsible.

[sacmom3]

06:37 PM on 10/15/2011

Today's generation of kids are doomed.

[Red45]

06:19 PM on 10/15/2011

Oh my God. This is so horrible. It's so easy to forget that babies put everything in their mouths and it's also easy to forget that those child-proof prescription bottles aren't child-proof. God bless this family in their overwhelming grief.