Police to Seek Endangerment Charge Against Mom in Mass. Apparent Overdose Video
Sept. 21--LAWRENCE -- Police plan to charge a Salem, New Hampshire, mother who apparently overdosed and collapsed in a store in front of her 2-year-old daughter with child endangerment.
Police Chief James Fitzpatrick said the department will file a complaint against the mother in Lawrence District Court. She is then entitled to a hearing before a clerk magistrate who will determine if probable cause exists to formally press charges.
The mother is listed in a police report as Mandy McGowen, 36, of 24 Haverhill St.
The Eagle-Tribune first published the video of McGowen, with her 2-year-old daughter in tow, as she lay on the floor of Family Dollar in Lawrence Sunday morning.
Her daughter, dressed in purplish-pink "Frozen" footie pajamas, cries and pulls at her mother as the woman lays unconscious on the toy aisle floor.
Story continues below video
Paramedics soon arrive and administer two doses of Narcan, a drug which reverses heroin and opiate overdoses, a police report said.
A Lawrence police officer, looking for identification, found drug paraphernalia in McGowen's diaper bag, according to the report.
McGowen was not immediately arrested or charged. Police did file an immediate alert about McGowen's condition with the state's Department of Children and Families. This is standard protocol for officers when they find a child in danger under any circumstances involving neglect, endangerment or crime.
Copyright 2016 - The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass.
