Manayunk Dad Of Baby Stuck With Needle To Appear In Court Tuesday

MANAYUNK, PHILADELPHIA – The Manayunk father facing felony charges after his 9-month-old daughter was stuck with a hypodermic needle and required Narcan to be revived for an accidental overdose is set to appear in court on Tuesday.

Stephen Richard Welsh is slated to be in court Tuesday, Oct. 31 after his charges were held for court on Oct. 17, court records show.

He faces charges of felony aggravated assault with the victim being younger than 13 and the defendant being older than 18; endangering the welfare of a child with a parent or guardian committing the offense; simple assault with the victim under 12 years old and defendant 18 yearsor older; and recklessly endangering another person.

Additionally, the Oct. 17 court appearance resulted in Welsh's bail amount being increased from 10 percent of $10,000 to 10 percent of $25,000.

Welsh 35, is still behind bars.

He was arrested after police and medics were called to the 200 block of Green Lane in Manayunk at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 5 for a report of a child being stuck with a needle.

Police and medics found a 9-month-old girl unresponsive and administered a dose of Narcan, an opioid-overdose reversing medication, to revive the girl, police said.

Medics took the child to Chestnut Hill Hospital and treated her for an accidental overdose, police said.

Court records show Welsh entered a rehabilitation facility in late August.

More than 2,000 opioid overdoses in Pennsylvania have been reversed by naloxone since November of 2014, Gov. Tom Wolf said back in December 2016.

Wolf said that there were more than 3,500 drug overdoses in Pennsylvania in 2015.

Opioid overdoses have been on the increase everywhere in recent months and years.

The Drug Enforcement Administration recently announced overdose deaths were up 37 percent in Pennsylvania in 2016.

There were 4,642 drug-related overdose deaths — approximately 13 people a day— in Pennsylvania in 2016, said Gary Tuggle, special agent in charge of the DEA's Philadelphia Field Division.

That's a 37 percent increase from 2015 and establishes a death rate for 36.5 per 100,000 people.

Back in May, an 11-year-old girl was treated for an overdose with Narcan in the Pittsburgh area.

A paramedic who spoke to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette told the outlet the 11 year old was the youngest overdose victim she had encountered in her 24-year career as a paramedic, save from toddlers who accidentally ingested a drug.

According to Pennsylvania Department of Health Statistics, 14 Pennsylvanians from birth to age 14 died from drug-induced deaths between 2011 and 2015.

Image via Philadelphia Police