A father in Massachusetts has been arrested on drug charges after his five-year-old son allegedly brought a bag of powdered heroin to his kindergarten class.
The child put the white powdery substance in his mouth and told his teacher that it made him feel “like Spider-Man,” Holyoke Police Lt. James Albert told NBC News. Police were called to the kindergarten class to respond to the incident on Thursday morning, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Green told the court.
The incident prompted police to search the boy’s family home in Holyoke, Mass., where they found 38 bags of cocaine and 170 bags of heroin. Police said some of those bags were labelled with pictures of Spider-Man. The label was also stamped on the bag the child allegedly brought to school.
Benny Garcia, 29, was arrested on an active warrant on Thursday after the incident at the boy’s school. Garcia became “very emotional” when he heard that his son was involved, according to court documents obtained by the Daily Hampshire Gazette. Police said in the documents that several bags of drugs fell out of the suspect’s pockets after he was handcuffed.
Garcia faces charges of drug possession, distribution and child endangerment in connection with the incident. He has pleaded not guilty.
The boy was treated in hospital and is expected to be fine, authorities said.
Child protective services have been notified about the incident.
“He loves Spider-Man,” Lt. Albert told the Gazette. “Our officers were quite taken by it all. You don’t often deal with this.”