Mom charged with endangering after toddler found dead near empty bag of drugs – NJ.com

The death of a toddler in East Orange last week remains under investigation after police and EMS found the baby unresponsive on a bed with an empty bag of drugs near its pacifier, police allege in court documents.

Police also found two used doses of Narcan, an opioid antidote, which the mother said she administered to her baby after finding her lifeless early last Tuesday, Sept. 28.

Natalie Mina, 31, is charged with endangering the welfare of a child. She was later arrested and remained jailed Thursday in Essex County.

The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the baby’s cause and manner of death, but declined specific comment on the case, a spokesperson said. An East Orange spokesperson referred comment to the prosecutor’s office.

In a probable cause affidavit supporting the endangering charge, a police officer wrote that officers arrived at the home on North 15th Street at about 12 a.m. for an unresponsive toddler and arrived to find an EMS crew performing CPR on the child.

An ambulance took the child to a hospital in Newark, where doctors tried for about an hour to save her life, to no avail.

At the hospital, Mina told police her daughter had been asleep face down on the bed since about 6 p.m., and when she went to move her to a more comfortable position, she was cold, pale and not breathing, officers wrote. She rushed the baby out of the room, and the baby’s father dialed 911.

At the scene, police found an empty plastic bag with white powdery residue they suspect was cocaine on the bed near a pacifier, and the Narcan sprays. Mina said she received the sprays from a program in which she’s enrolled.

NJ Advance Media could not find a lawyer listed for Mina.

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Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com.