Mother arrested after 3-year-old overdoses on methamphetamine
May 3, 2024
Last night at around 8:00 p.m., Vancouver Police and emergency medical responders from Vancouver Fire and AMR were dispatched to an apartment in the 4000 block of NE 109th Street for the report that a three-year old child had overdosed on drugs and the grandmother had administered two doses of Narcan to get the child breathing again. When officers arrived, the mother was with the child in a bedroom and was refusing to let the medical responders in. In order to provide immediate treatment for the child, police forced their way into the room and were able to get the child into the hands of the medical responders. The child was transported to an area hospital for urgent medical treatment. During the search of the mother, police located a plastic bag with a white power substance, and foil, hidden in the woman’s clothing. The white power substance field tested positive for Methamphetamine. The three-year old and the woman’s other child, two-years old, were both placed into protective custody with Washington State Child Protective Services.
Summer Justice Ward, 27 years old, was arrested and booked into the Clark County Jail for Endangerment with a Controlled Substance, Criminal Mistreatment II, Resisting Arrest, Obstruct Law Enforcement Officer, and Possession of a Controlled Substance.
Detectives from the Vancouver Child Abuse Unit are following up on the investigation. This was the second overdose call that Vancouver Police patrol responded to that day involving a small child that consumed illicit substances.