Inset: Genesis Harrell (East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office). Background: The Baton Rouge, La., apartment complex where Harrell’s toddler son allegedly became intoxicated (Google Maps).
A Louisiana woman has been jailed after authorities say her 14-month-old son was rushed to the hospital with a dangerously high level of alcohol in his system.
Genesis Harrell, 27, is facing one count of cruelty to juveniles, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office said.
The case stems from an incident in mid-May at an apartment complex on Longridge Avenue in Baton Rouge, according to police.
Harrell called 911 on May 18 to report concerns about her young son, according to an arrest warrant obtained by Baton Rouge-based ABC affiliate WBRZ.
Investigators say Harrell later told police she sought emergency help because the child was “not behaving normally.” According to the warrant, she said the toddler, who was usually active, went limp when she tried to pick him up, and that his condition did not improve after he woke from a nap.
The boy was taken to Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital, where initial tests showed a blood-alcohol content of about 0.305%, according to the arrest warrant obtained by The Advocate. Louisiana’s legal limit for driving is 0.08%, meaning the toddler’s BAC was nearly four times the level at which an adult is considered legally impaired behind the wheel.
Doctors diagnosed the child with alcohol intoxication and identified several serious complications, including acute respiratory failure, hypoxia and hypercapnia, a condition involving excessive carbon dioxide in the bloodstream, law enforcement said. Medical professionals warned that without treatment, the toddler likely could have suffered respiratory arrest, brain injury or death.
The defendant, for her part, told police her son ate breakfast at 11 a.m. before falling asleep around 1 p.m. on the day he went limp, according to the charging document. She said she lived at the residence with her boyfriend and that he was inside working from home that day. Police, however, wrote in the warrant that the boyfriend was not responsible for the child and that Harrell was the sole legal guardian.
Investigators said the boy’s mother admitted she was also inside the residence when the incident occurred and that there was alcohol in the unit. Harrell insisted the alcohol was secured, and not accessible by the child, but could not explain how the little boy had ingested such a large amount of alcohol to become so intoxicated, police said.
During a follow-up investigation, police asked the defendant a series of questions about the incident, according to the warrant.
Those questions included a request about the type and location of the alcohol, who last handled the alcohol, the nature of her supervision of her child, the victim’s movements and activities on the day in question, and, again, how the child could have obtained such a life-threatening amount of alcohol, police said. Instead, Harrell allegedly declined to speak further with investigators, according to the court document.
Law enforcement would go on to say that Harrell demonstrated “such disregard for the victim’s interests and safety that her conduct constituted a gross deviation below the standard of care expected of a reasonably careful parent.”
The defendant is being detained in the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison with no bond as of this writing.
The toddler was placed in the custody of the Louisiana Department of Child and Family Services and remains in the pediatric intensive care unit, according to law enforcement.
