Three local toddlers have overdosed on opioids in less than year

A third  toddler has apparently overdosed on opioids within a year in Montgomery County.

A 2-year-old girl was found late Tuesday afternoon, unconscious, and Dayton police suspect an overdose.

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Emergency responders were dispatched about 4:30 p.m. on a “hurry up” call to the 100 block of Pointview Avenue for the young girl who was unconscious.

The child’s mother has since been arrested on an unrelated charge.

A Dayton police lieutenant said the child is at Dayton Children's Hospital in serious condition.

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"Anytime a 2-year-old is passed out, it's fairly unusual," Dayton police Lt. Steven Bauer said. "In this case, with the height of opioid epidemic, I think there is some suspicion it possibly might be an opioid overdose."

Some synthetic opioids are so powerful that ingesting, inhaling or simply touching a small quantity can result in an overdose.

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Earlier this month, the Montgomery County Coroner’s office ruled a 13-month-old girl died in May from an acute intoxication of fentanyl and carfentanil. Mari’oona Allen had been in her grandmother’s home when she was discovered not breathing.

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A Harrison Twp.2-year-old, Lee Hayes, died of an overdose last year. Hayes was pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Hospital on Sept. 29. He was the youngest person to die during the year in which 349 people died in the county of drug overdoses, the most on record.

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The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office began an investigation into how Hayes of Harrison Twp. got a hold of the drug, but ran into a lack of evidence, Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer said.

The child on Pointview Avenue was with a baby sitter Tuesday as well as others in the house, Bauer said.

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Bauer suggested the child may have ingested an opioid, saying children at that age often explore the world by putting things in their mouths.

The child's mother was not immediately located but police knew her location. Police had no information on the child's father.

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"Everybody in the household has been spoken with, to see if they had any other information," Bauer said.

Officers also interviewed people in the neighborhood as well.

Bauer would not speculate as to whether the child was exposed to the opioid inside or outside the house.

According to the very preliminary investigation, the child was found either in an alley behind the house or somewhere near the house. Police blocked the alley with crime scene tape and brought in a K-9 unit to look for evidence.

Earlier this month in Miami, a 10-year-old boy arrived home, started vomiting and later that night was dead. Somehow Alton Banks unwittingly came into contact with heroin and fentanyl moving about his neighborhood, authorities say.

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