Father charged in 3-year-old son's death from drug overdose

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share via Email
• Copy Link

  Link Copied

A Maryland father is facing manslaughter and first-degree child abuse charges after authorities say he gave his three-year-old son a fatal combination of drugs, including cocaine.

Prince Georges County police say Thomas E. Holland took the toddler to United Medical Center in Southeast Washington in January, where the boy was pronounced dead.

A toxicology report concluded the child’s cause of death was linked to toxic levels of drugs, including cocaine, acetaminophen and codeine, reports NBC Washington.

“Those results are showing there was such a concentration of [the] four drugs that our detectives and medical examiners believe there is no chance this child could have accidentally ingested them,” Lt. William Alexander, a spokesman for Prince George’s County Police, told the Washington Post.

The boy’s death occurred shortly after Holland had a court-ordered visit with him.

The Washington Post reports the boy’s mother had been seeking unpaid child support from Holland and that the 38-year-old denied being his father and did not attend the child’s funeral.

“It’s the most horrific and the most terrible thing I’ve ever experienced,” the boy’s great-grandfather Maurice Gaither told NBC.

Follow Carrie Healey on Twitter @CarrieHeals.