(RightWing.org) – The latest report from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics indicates that nearly 108,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2023. However, not all are drug users, sometimes innocent victims die due to the actions of others. This could be the case of a Los Angeles woman who is sitting behind bars while investigators and state forensics experts determine the cause of her three-year-old sons’ death.
On July 12, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) issued a press release detailing its investigation into the death of a three-year-old child in Canoga Park, a residential neighborhood in the northern part of the metro area between Bell Canyon and Hollywood. The previous day, Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics responded to a call from a woman who found her twin boys unresponsive.
The first responders initiated life-saving measures and transported both three-year-olds to a local hospital. Medical officials pronounced the death of one of the boys, and the other remained in critical condition for a few days. but later died as well.
Officers from the LAPD’s Topanga Patrol Division also responded to the radio call. A preliminary investigation indicated that both boys “had ingested or been exposed to an unknown substance.” The officers arrested the twins’ mother, 22-year-old Jestice James, and booked her into the Los Angeles County Jail under the California Penal Code §187(a) – Murder.
A review of jail records showed that officials were holding her on a $2 million bond. She made her first court appearance on July 15, and the judge carried over her bail. Officials assigned to the LAPD’s Juvenile Division Abused Child Unit are spearheading the investigation into the death of both three-year-olds and the circumstances surrounding it.
Local news stations reported that the child died from an apparent drug overdose. However, they also noted that the medical examiner hasn’t released the cause of death yet. A Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson told KTLA5 that first responders found both toddlers in cardiac arrest when they responded to the call.
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