New York City leaders considering changes to day care inspection process after 1-year-old's fentanyl death
NEW YORK -- New York City leaders are considering changes to the day care inspection process after four children were hospitalized due to fentanyl exposure last week; one of those children, a 1-year-old boy, died.
Police say they found a kilo of fentanyl and machines used to package drugs in a hallway closet last week. Since then, we've been asking whether the day care inspector checked closets. In an interview Wednesday morning, Mayor Eric Adams said yes.
"They went through. They opened closets. They did all the things that they were supposed to do," Adams said.
Sources tell CBS New York that includes the closet where police say they found a kilo of fentanyl and equipment used to package drugs on Friday after a fentanyl exposure that sent four children to the hospital and killed 1-year-old Nicholas Dominici.
"They are supposed to -- and as I understand, it was done -- look in closets, cabinets, kitchen cupboards, refrigerators," Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson said.
Detectives are still investigating whether the kilo of fentanyl police found on the 15th was already somewhere in the apartment during that inspection.
At a news conference earlier this week, the city's health commissioner said inspectors are not trained to look for fentanyl.
"But maybe we need to start," said New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan.
Lawmakers are looking into whether such a change would come at the state or city level. The state oversees day care inspections, but in the five boroughs, the city's health department inspects on the state's behalf.
"I do think it needs to be codified because we don't want this to be a policy of this administration and then be, you know, let up in the next," New York City Council Member Pierina Sanchez said.
"Some of the changes that we're obviously talking about with our health officials is what does the standard inspection form look like that comes from the state Office of Children and Family Services," Gibson said.
Adams simply said the city is doing some evaluations.
Meanwhile, investigators are still looking for another suspect in this case: the husband of the day care owner who authorities say was caught on video leaving the scene on Friday.