Drugs caused death of infant boy on Staten Island: NYPD
A two-month-old baby boy who died on Staten Island last month suffered an overdose from ingesting methamphetamine, authorities said Friday.
Infant Paulie Khan died on March 8 inside a home on Arden Ave. near Arthur Kill Road in Arden Heights, according to cops.
Around noon on that day, his mother woke up, police said, and thought Paulie was still asleep but when the boyfriend woke up a short time later he realized the baby was unconscious.
The mother and boyfriend called 911. Medics rushed Paulie to Staten Island University North Hospital but he could not be saved.
A woman who lives in the home identified the boyfriend as her son, Jonathan Gardell, who two years ago was accused of selling fentanyl pills to an undercover cop.
“He was a beautiful boy who gave me joy,” Gardell’s mother said, asking her name not be printed. “That little baby opened my heart. He was my son’s friend’s baby.”
During a search warrant execution at the home after the baby died, police said they found a large amount of drugs.
On May 24 the Medical Examiner told police fentanyl was found on the baby’s bottle, police said.
His death was ruled a homicide on June 14, with the cause of death listed as acute methamphetamine intoxication. No arrests have been made.
