Police Release Images of Adults Who Allegedly Passed Out Using Drugs in Car With a Child in Backseat

A man and woman were arrested in Ohio on Wednesday after they allegedly passed out while under the influence of drugs in their vehicle with the woman’s 4-year-old son in the back seat, according to WTOV-TV.

East Liverpool Patrolman Kevin Thompson told WTOV that before he was on duty he spotted a vehicle driving erratically.

“I was on my way into work in my personal vehicle and I started following a dark-colored Ford Explorer that was driving, for the most part, erratic,” Thompson said. “It's one of those things, you're a police officer 24 hours a day, even in your personal vehicle, and when you're traveling to and from work.”

Thompson began to follow the vehicle down a hill. He said the driver of the vehicle hit the brakes and skidded to a stop, narrowly avoiding a collision with a school bus dropping students off from school.

“Minutes could've meant the difference between how it played out to what could've happened. Somebody could've been killed or seriously injured,” Thompson said.

The city of East Liverpool shared pictures of the disturbing aftermath of the incident on their Facebook page:

We feel it necessary to show the other side of this horrible drug. We feel we need to be a voice for the children caught up in this horrible mess. This child can't speak for himself but we are hopeful his story can convince another user to think twice about injecting this poison while having a child in their custody.

According to WTOV, the adults who were in the vehicle — the boy’s mother Rhonda Pasek and their driver James Acord — were both charged in the incident. Children's Services placed the boy in the care of a neighbor.

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