A 5-year-old boy who died after officers found him foaming at the mouth in a Bronx apartment had methadone in his system, police said.
The deadly drugs that Dennis Timberlake likely ingested over the weekend are believed to have come from his father, Darrell Timberlake, 42, a methadone user with a long history of child abuse cases, NYPD Sergeant John Chell said Tuesday.
Chell said Timberlake’s father has not been charged in his son’s death.
“It’s still under investigation,” Chell said, “but at this point, the cause of the boy’s death is essentially due to the ingestion of methadone.”
Authorities said the preliminary toxicology report came Monday, one day after doctors and NYPD officers responded to a frantic 911 call about a 5-year-old child not breathing inside a Belmont apartment.
Doctors pronounced Denier dead when he arrived at nearby St. Barnabas Hospital, Chell said, but there were no obvious signs of trauma or injury.
The boy, who lived with his struggling father in an apartment on Basford Avenue, had been feeling unwell on Saturday, Chell said.
“He tried to eat cereal but ended up vomiting, he was very lethargic, he wasn’t playing with his siblings, he wasn’t watching TV,” he said.
According to Chell, Denyell slept on a mattress on the floor, huddled between his father and his 27-year-old cousin.
Early Sunday morning, Darrell Timberlake couldn’t wake his son and he began screaming, so he called 911, Chell said.
Police said a search of the home found empty baggies containing an unknown residue that is currently being tested. The patrol chief said the deceased child’s half-brother (age 12) and half-sister (age 11) were removed from the residence by authorities and taken to their grandfather’s home.
“Darrell Timberlake has been arrested once before for child endangerment and has a significant criminal record with (child welfare agencies),” Chell said.
Chell said the history included a total of nine cases ranging from neglect and inadequate care to failing to provide food, clothing and shelter.
According to Chell, he was previously arrested in 2018 for assaulting one of his children’s mothers in front of the children.
