A Florida preschooler sat in the back of a van Monday morning crying as the driver slumped over in the front seat, apparently overdosing on opiates, authorities said.
“I just want to go to school,” the child cried when police arrived at the scene in Boca Raton.
Someone saw the 5-year-old child child and the Boca Raton woman in the van, with its windows rolled up and the ignition turned off, shortly after 8:30 a.m., and called 911.
The driver, Colleen Nichols, 30, was unconscious in the front seat when emergency units arrived. Boca Raton Fire Rescue crews used Narcan to revive her, indicating she had used opiates.
Authorities found a prescription bottle of the drug klonopin — used to treat seizures, panic disorders and anxiety — in the van. The bottle was filled Sunday with 30 pills. By Monday there were only two.
Nichols denied using heroin. She told authorities she wasn't sure where the child was, claiming, "I must have blacked out. I'm under a lot of stress."
Nichols was arrested on a child-neglect charge. She was released Tuesday afternoon from the Palm Beach County Jail on a $1,000 surety bond.
ested on a charge of child neglect with great bodily harm in September 2015. She completed a pre-trial intervention on that charge.
The details of that arrest were not immediately available.
About the Author
