Girl hospitalized after drinking poison in Kingsford Heights

June 07, 2011|By STAN MADDUX | WSBT Correspondent

KINGSFORD HEIGHTS — A young girl was injured by drinking a substance that a police official believes might have come from a suspected meth lab in Kingsford Heights.

LaPorte County Metro Operations coordinator Tim Shortt said the girl was flown to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis after ingesting the caustic substance Friday afternoon. He did not know her present condition.

However, Shortt said, the girl vomited after drinking the unknown liquid and the fluids from her stomach burned her skin.

"She started having trouble breathing then she started to foam at the mouth," Shortt added.

Kingsford Heights Town Marshal Chris Fine told WSBT-TV that a 4½-old-girl "accidentally ingested an acid-type substance. We're not sure at this point what it is. We have no lab results back. At this moment Kingsford Heights Police Department is handling this as an accidental poisoning."

The name of the girl and other details surrounding the consumption of the poison were not released because that side of the case was still being investigated by Kingsford Heights police.

Donald Lowe, 30, who lives at the residence along with Nicole Johnson, 31, were booked in the La Porte County Jail on preliminary charges.

Officials at the LaPorte County prosecutor's office said evidence in the case is expected to be presented Wednesday in LaPorte Circuit Court, where formal charges will be sought.

Shortt said that police Friday afternoon were called to a home on Fairmont Road on a report of a girl swallowing something and being burned.

The child was transported to LaPorte Hospital and later taken by helicopter to theIndianapolis medical facility.

Drug investigators familiar with the home from previous narcotics investigations also responded and found the remnants of a meth lab in the home, Shortt said.

Shortt would not disclose specifically what was found but did say materials and ingredients typically used in a meth lab were in the home.

The liquid ingested by the girl, he noted, was sent to the Indiana State Police laboratory for analysis.

Another sample was sent to Riley Hospital for Children.

Shortt said the poison the youngster ingested was either an ingredient in meth or a byproduct from the manufacture of the drug.

"I'm not quite sure what it was she drank," Shortt said.

Shortt said the girl apparently was at the home visiting and her mother was somewhere nearby.

Authorities believe meth was being made and sold from the home.

"I think it was quite active," Shortt said.

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