Gulfport man released on bond after 2-year-old overdosed on heroin, sheriff’s office says

Authorities released a Gulfport man on bond Wednesday after he was arrested in Metairie, Louisiana, last week when his 2-year-old son overdosed on heroin, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.

The sheriff’s office arrested Tran Truong, 34, of Gulfport, on Friday after his son allegedly ingested heroin inside Truong’s vehicle, fell unconscious and needed narcan, an opioid overdose reversal medication, to revive him, Capt. Jason Rivarde said.

Rivarde said Truong was released Wednesday on a $15,000 bond. He said the child had been treated and his condition is no longer life threatening.

The 2-year-old, a 10-month-old and Truong’s wife stayed inside the vehicle while Truong ran into a store at 7 p.m. Friday in the 3500 block of West Esplanade Avenue in Metairie, according to Rivarde and the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

The 2-year-old then reached from the backseat and grabbed some heroin that had been left in the center console, police said. The child ate the drug and then stopped breathing, the Times-Picayune reported.

Rivarde said the 10-month-old did not ingest the drug. Authorities did not arrest Truong’s wife and said they believe she was unaware the drug was in the car.

East Jefferson General Hospital in Metairie administered three doses of narcan to the child, the Times-Picayune reported.

After Truong was arrested, he told investigators that he’d bought the heroin earlier in the day but forgot that the drug was in his vehicle, according to an arrest report obtained by the Times-Picayune.

Truong faces charges of second-degree cruelty to a juvenile and drug possession, Rivarde said.