A Las Vegas man faces felony charges for child abuse and endangerment after his young relative was rushed to an Orange County hospital after overdosing on fentanyl.
Eric Duane Bird, 41, is accused of keeping potentially deadly narcotics in his bag during a family trip to Newport Beach over the Fourth of July weekend.
Those drugs, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, ended up in the hands of a 3-year-old relative who was staying at the same short-term rental property as Bird and his wife and children.
It’s alleged that the boy found and ingested some of the drugs and overdosed on fentanyl, struggling to breathe and turning blue as his frantic parents dialed 911. The boy was taken by ambulance to the Children’s Hospital of Orange County and needed to be revived with the emergency anti-overdose drug naloxone, commonly known as Narcan.
The boy was also suffering from extreme itching, which led to medical crews administering epinephrine in an attempt to stop a potentially deadly allergic reaction. But it wasn’t until naloxone was administered that the boy’s condition improved, at which point he positively tested for fentanyl.
Officers from the Newport Beach Police Department searched the rental property and found a backpack in Bird’s room that contained burned foil, a device for smoking and a container of fentanyl.
“The backpack, which was on the floor in the bedroom with the door open, was accessible to the three-year-old and other children in the home throughout the holiday weekend,” the D.A.’s Office said.
Bird was arrested and has since pleaded not guilty to felony counts of child abuse and child endangerment, as well as a misdemeanor count for possession of a controlled substance.
If convicted as charged, he could face up to six years in state prison. He is currently being held on $100,000 bail.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said his office will aggressively prosecute fentanyl dealers and users to crack down on the potentially deadly consequences of the illegal narcotic.
“Childhood memories of Fourth of July should include fireworks shows, parades, and backyard barbecues, not near-death experiences because a family member cared more about their addiction than the safety of a child,” Spitzer said.