Boy, 8, dies after ‘mistaking his dad’s drug stash for breakfast cereal and downing spoonfuls of meth’
The Indiana child died after eating 180 times the lethal amount of methamphetamine
A HUNGRY Indiana child died after eating 180 times the lethal amount of methamphetamine — which he thought was a breakfast cereal, according to reports.
Eight-year-old Curtis Collman III woke up early on June 21 and told his dad, Curtis Gilbert Collman II, that he wanted something to eat, the man told authorities, .
Collman II, 41 said there was no food in the Seymour house. But there was meth, that he left on a clear glass plate, he told authorities.
Meth can be crystal like, or brownish in colour and could have been mistaken for cereal in low light, the outlet noted.
The child ate a staggering amount of the drug — 18,000 nanograms — toxicology results released this week revealed, the Seymour Tribune reported.
Collman II, 41, noticed his son was feeling sick around 10 a.m. and asked a friend to come over to help check him out, according to police documents obtained by NBC-Wave3.
But instead of taking the boy to a hospital like his friend suggested, Collman II allegedly ripped her cell phone away, pointed a gun at her head and screamed “I’m not going back to prison,” .
He allegedly threatened to shoot her, himself and the boy if she called 911, the outlet reported.
The father then picked up his son and allegedly rushed to his mother’s house instead of a hospital, .
When they arrived, the boy began turning blue and his grandfather eventually called authorities.
The boy was taken to the Schneck Medical Center, where he later died.
The dad is facing a slew of charges, including neglect that led to the death of a dependent and possession of meth, reports said.
A bond reduction request was barred by a Jackson County judge Friday. He faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted. A trial is set for December 4.
The child’s grandparents were devastated.
“We all wake up in the morning thinking about him and we go to sleep at night thinking about him,” the boy’s heartbroken grandmother, Rita Cook, .
Meth is a major problem in the area, which made up for more than one-third of the county’s arrests, WLOX reported.
A version of this story originally appeared on
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