A young couple in Boca Raton, Florida, is facing charges of child neglect causing great bodily harm, culpable negligence, and possession of fentanyl after their 7-month-old baby overdosed on opioids on a Monday night.
The mother desperately pleaded with the 911 operator, “Please, he’s gasping for air, please! I don’t want anything to happen to my son.” The operator reassured her, “I’m going to stay on the phone with you until we get there, okay? Someone else is dispatching the paramedics.” The mother continued to plead urgently, “Right now, right now, right now.”
The mother, Gekia Hunter, called 911 a little before 8 p.m., crying for help as her baby boy was gasping for air. By the time the paramedics arrived, the baby had stopped breathing and was in cardiac arrest.
The Baby Survives Overdose
Hunter handed the baby to the Boca Raton Fire Rescue paramedics who helped him regain a faint pulse before transporting him to the hospital. Upon searching the hotel room, detectives found fentanyl in the baby’s diaper bag and a fentanyl analog in the same dresser drawer as the baby’s clothes. The parents, Bianley Jolicoeur and Gekia Hunter, were arrested early Tuesday morning while still at the hospital.
Drug Use and Charges
In an interview with detectives, Hunter confessed to snorting what she described as heroin just before calling 911. Detectives later found a plastic zipped bag containing 5.2 grams of fentanyl in the diaper bag that the couple had brought to the hospital. Hunter and Jolicoeur appeared in court on Wednesday and are being held on a $19,000 bond. The court has ordered that they have no contact with the baby.
The baby was stabilized
The baby’s condition later stabilized, and he was transported to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. The incident is a stark reminder of the dangers of opioid use, particularly for children who can be accidentally exposed to the drugs.