Watch: Man Drives 5-Year-Old Around While Smoking Weed, Then Hands Kid the Drugs and Does the Unthinkable
A viral video of a 5-year-old boy appearing to smoke marijuana led to a man’s arrest Tuesday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
John Hall, 48, was charged with delinquency of a juvenile, possession with intent to distribute a Schedule I drug and illegal use of a controlled substance in the presence of a person under 17, according to the Baton Rouge Police Department.
Cpl. Saundra Watts told WAFB-TV, “We were able to positively identify Mr. Hall as the person seen in the video passing that suspected marijuana blunt to a 5-year-old juvenile who was puffing and pulling on that marijuana blunt.”
However, police did not drug test the child, the outlet reported.
The boy was said to be the grandson of Hall’s ex-girlfriend.
Lt. L’Jean McKneely told Louisiana Radio Network police first became aware of the video because concerned citizens reached out.
Unfortunately, this was not the first incident in which the boy was involved. McKneely said the child was part of an accidental shooting in May where he and his 3-year-old cousin were injured.
The boy’s mother, Desirae Felder, was arrested May 18 following the accident and charged with obstruction of justice and second-degree cruelty to juveniles.
WARNING: The following link contains vulgar language and disturbing behavior that some viewers may find offensive.
You can view the full video of the drug incident here.
The video in question showed a man police identified as Hall driving a car and blasting music while the 5-year-old sat in the passenger seat. He appeared to give the child the substance right outside of the camera’s view.
The man can be heard saying, “Yeah,” as the child took a puff of the “blunt.”
“Don’t hold s***,” he said as the boy did not immediately blow the smoke out.
“That what I’m talking about,” the man said as he shook his head. He eventually took the blunt from the child and appeared to take a puff right before the one-minute video ended.
Watts encouraged citizens to let local law enforcement know if they see a child is being harmed.
“When we have individuals like this that are forcing children to partake in illegal substances, we want the public to know that they can reach out to us, provide us with that information and we will bring that person or persons to justice,” she told WAFB.
“Children are innocent,” Watts said, “and we’re going to make sure that we protect the children in this community by bringing to justice those persons that are involved in crimes when we have juveniles involved as well.”
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