Parents charged with manslaughter in toddler’s ‘inexcusable’ fentanyl-poisoning death Couple allegedly waited hours before calling 911 in ‘heartbreaking’ case last March, police say By: Chris Kitching Posted: 11:33 AM CST Monday, Feb. 5, 2024 Last Modified: 4:54 PM CST Monday, Feb. 5, 2024 Updates

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/02/2024 (972 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The parents of a one-year-old Winnipeg girl have been charged with manslaughter in her “inexcusable” death, after she ingested fentanyl and they allegedly waited hours before calling for help.

Police said Hanna Boulette ingested a large amount and died from high levels of fentanyl poisoning. Her mother, Sabrina Faye Boulette, 37, and father, Garry Daniel Adrian Bruce, 38, are now charged with manslaughter, following a yearlong investigation.

“It’s heartbreaking when we see these instances,” Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Claude Chancy said Monday. “We do not need to see infants dying at the hands of irresponsibility.

“Whether or not a person has an addiction or substance-abuse problem, this is inexcusable.”

He said the parents were using fentanyl — a powerful synthetic opioid — when Hanna was exposed to the drug.

“It wouldn’t take a large amount of fentanyl to prove fatal, which it did in this case,” the officer added.

Police said Bruce called 911 on March 23 to report his daughter being unresponsive at their home in the 600 block of Stella Avenue in the North End.

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service members performed CPR on Hanna and took her to hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Police initially arrested the parents on suspicion of criminal negligence causing death. Bruce also faced a drug possession charge, after a small amount of fentanyl was found on him, said police.

Both were interviewed and returned home not facing charges.

Three neighbours said the couple told them Hanna died after accidentally ingesting a household product in their rented second-floor suite.

“They said it was some type of liquid that she ingested,” Brad Thompson said while tears rolled down his cheeks.

Thompson was devastated after learning Hanna died from fentanyl exposure.

“If they would have told the paramedics (sooner), they could have helped her,” he said. “If they would have told the truth, that child could still be alive. They shouldn’t have waited (to call 911).”

After Hanna’s death, the WPS child abuse unit determined both parents were not truthful during an interview, said Chancy.

Both were present in the home and were aware of Hanna’s fentanyl exposure before calling 911, he said.

Chancy said the parents attempted to give first aid to the girl before seeking help.

“If they would have told the truth, that child could still be alive. They shouldn’t have waited (to call 911)”–Brad Thompson

“It’s important here that the amount of time that had passed, from where the parents were aware of the child’s fentanyl exposure to the time that 911 was called, was certainly a factor that may have played in the child’s death,” he told reporters.

Chancy said only the parents can explain why a 911 call wasn’t placed sooner.

“They knew the child was in distress at the time and could have called 911 prior to when they did,” he said.

Autopsy and toxicology reports, which came back in June, confirmed the cause of death.

Manslaughter charges were authorized after further investigation and consultation with Crown prosecutors.

On Friday, police arrested Boulette and Bruce at their current rental home in the first 100 block of McKenzie Street, next to their former home on Stella Avenue.

A neighbour, who declined to give her name, said Boulette and Bruce had told her Hanna died after ingesting something found near the couple’s kitchen sink.

“They said something got stuck in her throat, and that’s how she passed away,” said the woman, who learned the real cause of death Monday. “I’m mind-blown right now.

“(Hanna’s death) really upset them; I could tell they were hurt severely.”

The parents set up a memorial to Hanna on a window sill, complete with a photo of the smiling child, flowers, angel figurines and a tiny cross.

Neighbours said the couple’s house was broken into and ransacked after Friday’s arrests.

Since Hanna’s death, Bruce has posted photos and tributes to his daughter on Facebook.

“I miss when my lil family were still a whole,” he wrote Dec. 10. “Hanna mommy and daddy miss you so much.”

Thompson and his wife babysat Hanna. He said he gave Boulette and Hanna a ride to a grocery store the day before the toddler died.

“She seemed fine. Nothing out of the ordinary,” he said. “She was a lovely kid, beautiful.”

Hanna was the city’s youngest homicide victim of 2023. Her death brings the annual total to 44, matching 2019 as the second-deadliest year on record.

Court records show Bruce has struggled with addictions in the past. In 2018, he was fined $260 after he was arrested following a traffic stop and found in possession of morphine.

“He was basically in the throes of a very difficult addiction to drugs, “ his lawyer told court at the time, noting the drugs he had abused in the past included carfentanil, an opioid 100 times more potent than fentanyl.

In 2010, Bruce pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and was sentenced to 22 months of house arrest.

Bruce and Boulette were held in custody after being charged with manslaughter. It’s not the first time the child abuse unit has laid charges after a child ingested fentanyl.

“We need to see less deaths on the streets, and in homes with children there — we don’t need to see that at all”–Const. Claude Chancy

On Dec. 30, a toddler was in critical condition after inadvertently ingesting the drug while crawling on a floor inside a North Point Douglas home.

Several doses of naloxone, a medication that can temporarily reverse an opioid overdose, were needed to stabilize the child.

A 28-year-old man is facing a charge of causing bodily harm by criminal negligence.

Citing a substance abuse problem in society, Chancy said police come across fentanyl users “all the time.”

“The amount of overdoses that we see are quite high. They are increasing, and we deal with those on a daily basis,” he said. “We need to see less deaths on the streets, and in homes with children there — we don’t need to see that at all.”

Fentanyl is up to 40 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, according to Health Canada. It can be in the form of pills, powder or liquid. Other drugs can be laced with fentanyl.

Last year, the WFPS administered 5,281 doses of naloxone — the most since the city began collecting data in 2007.

In 2022, a record 437 people in Manitoba died from drug overdoses, according to data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

— with files from Dean Pritchard and Tyler Searle

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca