A 40-year-old New Havener has been arrested and charged with first-degree manslaughter after her 10-month-old infant son died from ingesting fentanyl.
New Haven Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Cherelle Carr announced that arrest in a Thursday evening email press release.
She wrote that police obtained a warrant for the arrest of Alexandra Polino on Sept. 15 for the June 28 death of her infant son.
Polino turned herself in on Sept. 18, and was arraigned in state court on Sept. 19 on the charges of one felony count of first-degree manslaughter and two felony counts of risk of injury to a minor. She has been released from custody on a $250,000 bond.
The arrest comes amid a similar tragedy in New York City, where a 1‑year-old died and three children were hospitalized after being exposed to fentanyl at a day care site in the Bronx. It also comes as New Haven, and the country, struggle with rising rates of opioid addiction and fentanyl overdoses.
A 17-page arrest warrant affidavit written on Sept. 15 by Det. Samantha Romano describes in detail what may have happened the night of June 27 – 28 at Polino’s Farren Avenue apartment, and why police believe Polino should be arrested.
Polino lived in that Annex apartment with her cousin, her aunt, and her 10-month-old son and 4‑year-old daughter. She occasionally slept in the same bed with her two children.
In an initial police report, Polino said she woke up around 12 p.m. and found her son cold and unresponsive. Firefighters passing by on an unrelated call heard someone shouting “help me help me” from the second floor of the building, and responded to find Polino’s cousin holding the infant and yelling that he was not breathing. Police were dispatched to the residence at around 12:05 p.m., and the infant was pronounced dead at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital at 12: 43 p.m.
In separate interviews, all three adults — Polino, her cousin, and her aunt — said that at previous points in their lives, they each used heroin. All three said that, at the time of the 10-month-old’s death, none were using heroin.
Polino told police that her child “maybe” could have been exposed to heroin or fentanyl because her aunt had recently been kicked off her methadone program because of lapsed private insurance. Polino said that, at the time of her son’s death, she was using only methadone — a medication-assisted treatment for those struggling with substance use disorders — and repeatedly said she was not using heroin or fentanyl.
In subsequent interviews, Polino’s cousin and aunt questioned Polino’s truthfulness. Her aunt said she observes Polino had recently been spacing out in conversations, an indication she might be using heroin again.
Of the many objects found in Polino’s room that police seized and sent to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration for laboratory testing, ziplock plastic bags found in a small plastic dresser in the main bedroom where Polino slept with her two children tested positive for fentanyl, xylazine, and cocaine.
On Aug. 14, the state medical examiner completed an autopsy showing that the 10-month-old infant had died from “combined effects of fentanyl, cocaine, and xylazine toxicity.” The medical examiner ruled the manner of death “homicide (ingested drugs including fentanyl.”
The autopsy report found fentanyl positive at 110 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml), xylazine positive at 130 ng/ml, and cocaine positive at 21 ng/ml.
Det. Romano spoke with the doctor who authored the toxicology report, who said “the levels the decedent tested positive for regarding each substance were ‘very high’ and ‘inexcusable’ in a small child.” The doctor said “they had personally performed autopsies associated with Fentanyl overdoses in adults being as low as 5 ng/ml.”
A Family History Of Addiction
Over the course of the affidavit, the impact of substance use disorder looms over just about every interview.
Polino told investigators that she used heroin at the beginning of her pregnancy, but has subsequently transitioned to methadone. “Polino stated she does not use heroin, fentanyl, or other substances currently. Polino denied using any substances on June 27th or on June 28th.”
She also told police about her drug history and methadone use. She said she became addicted to Percocet at age 27. “Due to not being able to obtain Percocets, she started to use heroin around age 32. When Polino found out she was pregnant with the decedent’s older sister, who is now 4 years old, she began to take methadone. She said she was on methadone maintenance until approximately September of 2021, when she used heroin again.”
She said she continued using heroin until the spring of 2022, when she went back on methadone after getting pregnant with the son who ultimately died. “Polino stated she was approximately 5 months pregnant with the decedent when she found out she was pregnant, and had used illicit drugs throughout those 5 months, approximately 3 times a week.”
She said she then entered her current methadone program Multicultural Ambulatory Addiction Services (MAAS), and that the only time she used “illicit drugs during the 10 months of the decedent’s life” was when she used cocaine in December 2022. “Polino stated she was in a program through DCF, called FBR (Family Based Recovery) and she advised her treatment worker when she used. Polino stated she has not used any other illicit drugs at any other point since December 2022.”
During a separate interview with Polino’s cousin, whom Polino lived with, investigators asked if she ever personally used narcotics, and she said yes. “She stated she used heroin, the last time being right around the time the decedent was born.” Polino’s cousin said she had not used since then and that she is not on methadone.
And in still a separate police interview, Polino’s aunt, whom Polino also lived with, she too said she “had been a past heroin user,” but had stopped using heroin since around when the infant was born. She said she had been on methadone, but “was kicked out of her program due to her medical insurance lapsing,” a claim investigators found to be true.
On July 5, police detectives spoke with an individual who wished to remain anonymous, and who is identified in the affidavit as a “concerned citizen.” That person said they personally knew Polino, and had been told that, the day that the infant died, she had taken a couple “shovels” of “dope” up her nose, which had “knocked her out.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Polino had been living with her sister and her aunt. She had been living with her cousin and her aunt. The article has been corrected.
With her drug use, why is she not also charged with risk of injury for her other child and the child removed to a safer home?