By the time police responded, the mother, 25-year-old Ashlee Figgers, had woken up from the overdose and she admitted that she’d taken a fentanyl.
Law enforcement body camera footage shows the mom telling officers, “Um, it was a fentanyl pill.”
Wheat Ridge police reported that Figgers had taken the pill and then tried to drive over to a family member’s home with her 6-year-old daughter.
Figgers was arrested for a few reasons, child abuse, driving while under the influence, and possession of an illegal substance.
Joanna Small, who is the Wheat Ridge Police Department’s public information officer told People Magazine, “As she was driving, she got tired and pulled to the side of the road where she essentially passed out.”
Regardless of the mom’s actions, Small shared she hopes Figgers “gets better.”
“She is not a lost cause. Despite the fact she is being charged with child abuse, we know she loves her daughter,” Small told reporters. “She made a terrible decision that could have been so much worse for her daughter. There is help for her, there are resources for her, and we hope she takes advantage of them. She can turn her life around.”
The 6-year-old child told TV reporters about her experience, saying, “So I was in the back…Then the mail man came over here to me.”
It may be unclear whether the child was stuck in the car.
Small explained regarding how the postal worker saved a 6-year-old, “I don’t know if she couldn’t get out of the car or if she was just terrified, but she knew she didn’t know what to do.”
Whatever the case, it was good that the child yelled for help.
“She thought her mom was dead. So, she spotted the mail carrier and that’s why she yelled for help,” said Small.
Speaking of Russell, an officer who responded to the 911 call shared how grateful she was to the postal worker saved a 6-year-old. “I’m very grateful that he was there to help the child in this situation so she had someone there that she could trust.
But the postal worker saved a 6-year-old, remains humble saying, “I was just doing my job.”
