The four-year-old boy who was pictured sitting in the backseat of a vehicle while his grandmother and her friend passed out from apparent overdoses is heading to a new home.
Police in East Liverpool, Ohio recently shared the photo on Facebook to illustrate the dangers of heroin addiction. Now, the boy is moving in with his great-aunt and uncle in South Carolina, Columbiana County Court Administrator Dane Walton told NBC News on Tuesday.
Mr Walton said that the young boy’s grandmother, 50-year-old Rhonda Pasek, is currently in jail on charges of endangering a child and public intoxication.
She was granted custody of the child just six-week prior to her arrest. The man in the photo, 47-year-old James Lee Acord, was also taken into custody.
Police first pulled over the vehicle after it was swerving on the road. When the officers realized the driver and passenger were barely conscious they administered the life-saving drug Narcan, which reverses the effects of heroin overdoses.
On Facebook, authorities with the city of East Liverpool explained exactly why they shared the graphic images on social media last week.
“We are well aware that some may be offended by these images and for that we are truly sorry, but it is time that the non-drug using public sees what we are now dealing with on a daily basis,” the statement read.
“The poison known as heroin has taken a strong grip on many communities not just ours, the difference is we are willing to fight this problem until it's gone and if that means we offend a few people along the way we are prepared to deal with that.”
