EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio — Fox8 is reporting that the 4-year-old boy seen in a viral photo sitting in the backseat of an SUV while two adults overdosed in the front has a new home.
The photo was shared by East Liverpool police and quickly went viral. The adults pictured were his grandmother and one of her friends.
NBC News reports that boy is set to go live with his great-aunt and great-uncle in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, while the grandmother, 50-year-old Rhonda Pasek, awaits trial on child endangerment and public intoxication charges.
Police initially posted the photos on their Facebook Page Thursday after responding to a call of an incapacitated driver.
They were hoping the photos would send a message to drug users to think twice before abusing drugs:
Brian Allen, the City of Liverpool’s director of public services and safety, backed posting the photos, saying heroin abuse is a national problem and the public needs to see its effects.
Police were first alerted to the vehicle when an officer saw a Ford Explorer driving erratically and then slamming on the brakes as it approached a stopped school bus that was dropping kids off, the police report states.
When the officer approached the driver, later identified as 47-year-old James Acord, his head was bobbing and his speech was almost unintelligible.
Acord told the officer he was taking his front seat passenger, Pasek, to the hospital.
The officer said he reached into the vehicle, turned it off and removed the keys just as Acord attempted to drive away.
That’s when the officer noticed a 4-year-old boy in the backseat.
The officer said Acord eventually passed out as well. EMS responded and administered Narcan, a drug used to reverse the effects of a heroin overdose.
Acord is already serving 360 days in jail after he pleaded guilty no contest to a charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and endangering children.
