Baby girl overdoses on heroin in East Deer while woman caring for her slept, police say

A 9-month-old girl overdosed on heroin Tuesday after police said she ingested the drug while the East Deer woman who was supposed to be caring for her slept.

Paramedics who responded to the incident injected the baby with 2 milligrams of Narcan before rushing her to UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, where she was admitted to the intensive care unit in stable condition, police said.

Sara Tate, 32, has been charged with aggravated assault, child endangerment, tampering with evidence and drug possession in connection with the incident, court records show. She was taken to Allegheny County Jail after failing to post $25,000 bond.

Tate’s attorney, Jennifer Suder, could not be reached Wednesday.

East Deer police said they went to Tate’s Marion Street home around 2 p.m. Tuesday after someone called 911 about an unresponsive baby there.

Tate told investigators she left her daughter, 12, and sister-in-law, 10, to watch the baby so she could “take a nap” in a downstairs bedroom. The children were left unsupervised in a second-floor bedroom, according to police.

The two girls who had been watching the baby told investigators they removed a stamp bag from the girl’s mouth and took it to Tate. Police said Tate told investigators she confirmed the stamp bag contained heroin by “biting it in her own mouth” before flushing it down the toilet.

Tate told police she had last used heroin Monday, and that there also was suboxone in the house, police said.

In addition to the baby, police said five children younger than 12 were at the home. Police took the children into protective custody and brought them to Children’s to be medically evaluated, the complaint said.

Police took Tate into custody at the hospital after they discovered she had an outstanding bench warrant out of Allegheny County, the complaint said. Allegheny County Police Sgt. Matt Mineard said Tate had failed to appear in court on unrelated drug charges.