Toddler Dies From Drug Overdose, Man Arrested On Homicide Charge: Police

A man has been charged with homicide after a toddler in Arizona died from a drug overdose, according to police.

Police in Surprise, northwest of Phoenix, were alerted to reports of an unresponsive child on Saturday, September 2.

When officers arrived at the location, they found the one-year-old boy unresponsive and attempted to save the child's life before he was taken to a nearby hospital where he died the following day.

According to Fox10, staff at the hospital "learned a narcotic was present in the child's system."

After police learned about the narcotics in the child's body, they apprehended Roderick Begay, 37. Police told the network he was "arrested and charged with multiple crimes related to the death of a child."

According to figures collected by the City of Phoenix, the estimated overdose death rate for all drugs was 41.9 per every 100,000 people in Maricopa County in 2022.

In 2021, approximately 107,622 people died from drug overdose in the U.S. which is a leading cause of injury-related death in the country.

A Surprise Police Department (SPD) spokesperson told the network: "This tragic investigation is ongoing and we will not release the name of the child at this time.

"We do not expect any further updates until the results of the Medical Examiner's report are known."

Police did not confirm the relationship between the toddler and Begay as well as what narcotic was in the child's system. An investigation into the child's death is ongoing.

Begay was charged on Sunday with one count of assault, one count of homicide, one count of crimes against children, and one count of weapons and explosives, according to ABC affiliate WSB-TV.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 562 reported homicide deaths in Arizona in 2021. When adjusted for the death rate, Arizona has an estimated 8.1 reported homicide deaths for every 100,000 people in the state.

There were 863 reported deaths among children aged 0 to 17 in Arizona in 2022, according to the Arizona Child Fatality Review Team.

It stated that 47 recorded child deaths were homicides, which was said to be about 5 percent of the total deaths.

The study found that 238 child deaths were recorded as accidents, although it is a much smaller figure than the leading cause of death for children aged 0 to 17. Death due to natural causes, at about 59 percent, is the leading cause of death.

Newsweek has contacted the SPD and Maricopa County Sheriff's Office for comment via email.