Phoenix children were found unconscious in a man’s car after taking fentanyl, police say | Arizona News

By Randall Perry On Aug 5, 2021

PHOENIX (3TV / CBS 5) – A Phoenix man faces child and substance abuse charges after police said he exposed two young children to fentanyl while he was using the drug himself. Officials arrested Matthew Duane Cruz, 32, Tuesday after he was found in the car with the unconscious children.

Police said they received a call about a moving car with two passed out on Interstate 17 and Peoria Avenue. According to public court records, officers found Cruz in the driver’s seat and a woman in the front passenger seat who “looked like they had just woken up”.

The likely reason for Cruz’s arrest is that the woman told officers that she “smoked drugs” in the car. Cruz later said he had also taken fentanyl, police wrote.

In the back seat, officers found a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old unconscious dog and a small dog. According to police, the officers tried to wake the children but did not respond. Paramedics took the children to hospital for treatment for exposure to fentanyl smoke. Her terms were not immediately available and her relationship with Cruz and the woman is unclear.

Authorities found that Cruz still had arrest warrants for his arrest, but the alleged crimes were not recorded on his court documents. Officials also said drugs and drug paraphernalia were “in sight” in the front seat of the car Cruz sat in. Police said the officers also found an unlabeled pill container with “a large amount of blue round pills marked M30”. Often times, such pills are counterfeit oxycodone pills with the potentially deadly opioid fentanyl, according to the DEA. Such fake pills are specially made to look like real oxycodone pills.

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Police arrested Cruz on suspicion of child abuse and various drug charges. Since Cruz was released for a crime when he was arrested, he is not entitled to bail.