Philadelphia police are investigating how a 4-year-old student managed to get his hands on eight bags of crack cocaine and $173 cash.
The boy reportedly showed the cash to a classmate at the Thomas Mifflin School on Tuesday. The classmate sensed something was wrong and told a teacher about the money, according to ABC Philadelphia. When questioned about the money, the boy is said to have handed over eight small bags of "an off-white chunky substance" that was later analyzed and discovered to be crack cocaine.
The school contacted police, who searched the building with drug-sniffing dogs, according to CBS Philadelphia. The boy was sent to a hospital for observation, on the chance that he'd ingested the drugs.
School district spokesman Fernando Gallard told the station that the drugs "came from the outside," and were not found by the child at the school.
Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Cynthia Dorsey told the Inquirer that while police have dealt with cases in which kids bring drugs to school before, this incident was unusual since the child was so young.
"It's not common, but it does happen," Dorsey told the newspaper. "I have never heard of a pre-K child [carrying drugs to school]."
Investigators said that they are questioning the student's family about the incident, although it was not immediately clear who was to blame. School officials said the student is a victim in this case, and will face no disciplinary action.
“The child is a victim of a situation, wherever that situation is occurring either in the home or somewhere else. We are providing that child with the support that we can,” Gallard told CBS Philadelphia.
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