Police Launch Investigation After Video of Child Desperately Trying to Wake Mom Allegedly Doing 'Heroin Nod' Goes Viral

Authorities have launched an investigation after a video surfaced on the Internet over the weekend showing a young girl desperately attempt to wake her mother up while on a Philadelphia-area bus.

The video, now with nearly half-a-million views, shows a child repeatedly crying "mama" while trying to wake the woman up. Throughout the duration of the four-and-a-half-minute piece of footage, the apparent mother is seen with her jaw hung open as a blank stare engulfs her face.

According to the YouTube video's description, the bus was moving through a "notorious drug ridden neighborhood."

Now the Philadelphia Police Department's Special Victims Unit and the Department of Human Services are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Authorities, however, are meanwhile also upset that not one person on the bus dialed 911.

"When you have a person doing the 'heroin nod' and a little girl is trying to hold her head up, that's horrifying," SEPTA Police Chief Tom Nestel told the Philadelphia Daily News.

[sharequote align="center"]"When you have a person doing the 'heroin nod' and a little girl is trying to hold her head up, that's horrifying."[/sharequote]

"There's very little reason why 15 calls to 9-1-1 weren't received," he added. "I don't think there's anyone who can watch that and say, 'Ah, that's a shame,' and just walk away."

John Warren, the man who shot the video, however, did reportedly say he reported the mother's behavior to the bus driver later.

Since the video went viral, authorities have reportedly been able to identify the woman and are working to investigate whether or not the child was ever endangered by her behavior.

According to the Daily News, she has not yet been charged with a formal crime.

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Follow Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) on Twitter

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