A Bronx mom has been charged after her six-year-old son was given an accidental, lethal dose of methadone—which had been stored in a cold medicine bottle. Raquel DeLeon, 36, was charged Thursday with reckless endangerment in the death of Carlos Rios Jr. DeLeon, who has two prior drug arrests, told police she has a prescription for methadone, but it is unclear why she was storing it in the DayQuil bottle. "As soon as he got sick, he was dizzy, he got in a coma and he died," the boy's maternal grandmother, Letty Muentes, told CBS.
According to the Daily News, Rios Jr. wasn’t feeling well Saturday when his father gave him half a tablespoon of liquid from the DayQuil (conflicting reports also say it was NyQuil) bottle—not knowing the mother had been storing her methadone in it. Carlos was rushed from his E. 147th St. apartment to Lincoln Hospital, then transferred to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, where he died.
"He was a good boy. He liked to paint. He was a good artist, fun kid. It's a tragedy to have me go through this," Rios told CBS after taking his son off life support. The boy's family said they are angry at The Administration for Child Services (ACS), claiming the organization didn't do enough after they went to the agency twice for help. In a statement, the agency said it "received the report of the terribly sad death of the 6-year-old boy in the Bronx, and along with the NYPD, our staff is investigating what led to this tragedy."
