The 36-year-old woman charged Wednesday with felony child endangerment and giving a controlled substance to a minor on a playground told police she put a Tootsie Roll into the little boy’s mouth, court papers reveal.
Sayyadina Thomas, who was taken for evaluation at a psychiatric hospital prior to her arrest, told paramedics she gave the boy methamphetamine after first telling a police officer who interviewed her that she fed him a “tootsie roll,” according to court papers.
The University of California Police Department said, in court documents that became available Wednesday afternoon, that a nanny was at a play structure at People’s Park with two small boys, ages 2 and 3, when a stranger walked up and “shoved an unknown substance” into the 2-year-old boy’s mouth.
The nanny “did not appear to be aware that People’s Park is frequently used by the mentally ill and drug users,” wrote Officer Jon Caires of UCPD.
The incident happened just after 3:30 p.m. Monday. The nanny identified Thomas as a stranger, and said “her actions were unprovoked.”
After sending Thomas to John George Psychiatric Hospital in San Leandro for evaluation, police called the nanny, who had taken the boy home to Oakland. The Oakland Fire Department was dispatched to assess the boy, who was ultimately admitted to Children’s Hospital in Oakland for treatment. A urine test Tuesday morning was positive for amphetamines, according to court papers, showing that the boy did ingest the drug.
Caires wrote that he arrested Thomas on suspicion of attempted murder because the woman “forced” methamphetamine into the 2-year-old’s mouth, which put the boy at “high risk” for overdose and even death. Authorities said Wednesday, however, that the 2-year-old is now “home and resting.”
The Alameda County district attorney’s office charged Thomas on Wednesday with felony child endangerment and giving a controlled substance to a minor on a playground.
Thomas, who grew up in Alameda, has been arrested numerous times in Alameda County since 2002. Some of those arrests have sent her to jail.
She was on felony probation at the time of her arrest Monday for a 2014 case in Alameda County involving resisting arrest and causing injury to a peace officer. She was also convicted in 2008 for battery causing serious bodily injury.
She is scheduled for arraignment Thursday at Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland, according to sheriff’s office records online.
