Lakesha Williams, mother of the 2-year-old toddler who died last week of a drug overdose, was charged last Thursday with one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of endangering the life of a child, authorities said.
Williams, 35, appeared last Friday in a bond hearing at Violence Court Branch 66-2 at 26th and California on the West Side, according to Chicago Police News Affairs.
Williams’ son, Kejuan Davis, died last Wednesday after ingesting methadone in the family’s West Side apartment on the 5200 block of West Chicago Avenue.
Police said the child drank the mother’s liquid methadone she was using to treat her drug addiction.
The 2-year-old was pronounced dead at 1:15 p.m., June 27, at Children’s Memorial Hospital, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office, which conducted an autopsy of the victim last Thursday. Results were inconclusive.
The cause of death is pending toxicology studies which could take six weeks, the office said.
The Department of Children and Family Services is currently investigating the child’s death, but a spokesperson for the department told news media last week that DCFS had previously investigated the family over abuse and neglect allegations.
Police detectives are also further investigating the case.
Police responded to the home at around 8:25 Tuesday night.
According to police, Williams found her son on the kitchen counter unresponsive next to a bottle of liquid methadone, a drug used to treat heroin and other addictions. Police said Williams told the child’s father that the boy ingested the drug and she then left the apartment. Williams, according to police, told the father that she was going to the clinic to get more methadone and left the father to deal with the boy.
Police said Kejuan Davis was breathing when officers arrived. The boy was taken to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park before being transferred to Children’s Memorial.
Methadone is a painkiller that’s used to block withdrawal symptoms and is available only through prescription. Overdose side effects include dizziness, slowed or stopped breathing and an erratic heartbeat, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Williams was convicted of drug possession in 1996 and served one month in jail for violating her probation, police said. She also pleaded guilty in 2004 for heroin possession and completed two years of probation.
Prior abuse allegations against the family surfaced in 1995 and 1997, but before the birth of Davis, DCFS officials said.
Williams faces 2-5 years on the first felony count.
CONTACT: tdean@wjinc.com
