Update, June 7, 4:45 p.m. The woman told police it was a tootsie roll she put in the boy’s mouth, court papers reveal. Berkeleyside has the update.
Update, June 7, 3:20 p.m. The little boy is back home and Thomas has been charged with two felonies.
Update, June 6, 5:45 p.m. UCPD said in a Nixle alert that a 2-year-old boy was at a play structure in the park with his nanny when a stranger walked up to him and put something in his mouth. His nanny immediately checked the boy’s mouth, found nothing and called UCPD. Police and paramedics took the female stranger into custody for a psychiatric evaluation. As they drove, she told paramedics she had given the child methamphetamine, police said. Authorities confirmed the boy had ingested the drug, and he is now recovering in a local hospital, police said.
Original story:Â A 36-year-old woman has been arrested in connection with attempted murder after a child was given methamphetamine at People’s Park in Berkeley on Monday afternoon, according to reports from the community and police.
An anonymous source told Berkeleyside a young child had been admitted to Children’s Hospital in Oakland after someone put methamphetamine into the boy’s mouth. As of Tuesday, he remained in the hospital, the source said.
The University of California Police Department has released minimal information about the case but confirmed to Berkeleyside on Tuesday at 4:25 p.m. that a child was admitted to a local hospital after a call to People’s Park on Monday. UCPD Sgt. Sabrina Reich, department spokeswoman, said an arrest had been made, and more information would be forthcoming.
According to unconfirmed UCPD scanner traffic reviewed by Berkeleyside, a caller asked for help from police Monday after a woman began “shoving something” into the mouth of a child. Police immediately responded and detained the person who was identified as the culprit.
According to online records from UCPD, police arrested Sayyadina Thomas at about 3:30 p.m. at People’s Park in connection with battery. She was taken by ambulance for a psychiatric evaluation at John George Psychiatric Hospital in San Leandro.
Thomas is now in custody at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, according to online records from the Alameda County sheriff’s office. She was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and is being held without bail.
Thomas is from Alameda but lives in Oakland, according to her Facebook page. She graduated from Alameda High School in 1997, then studied at Laney College.
She is scheduled for arraignment at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland on Wednesday morning.
According to online court records from Alameda County, Thomas has a history of arrests dating back to 2002 when she was sent to jail briefly on a misdemeanor case for a charge described as recklessly setting fire to the property of another person. In 2005, there was a misdemeanor assault arrest that was dismissed because no witness would cooperate. The next year, there was another misdemeanor arrest related to resisting arrest and battery on a peace officer; a no contest plea in that case sent Thomas to jail for about six months.
In 2008, there was a felony battery case that sent Thomas to jail for about two months. There were no additional arrests listed until 2014, when there was another incident involving resisting arrest and battery on a peace officer or other emergency worker. Thomas entered a no contest plea to one count of felony resisting in that case. The sentence was not immediately available.
Most recently, last July, Thomas was arrested on a misdemeanor related to indecent exposure and engaging in lewd conduct. That case was dismissed in January, according to Alameda County court records online.
