Toddler exposed to fentanyl in babysitter’s room died, grandfather says. He’s suing
Ariel Rose, a 23-month-old girl, was exposed to fentanyl at a Tennessee transitional housing facility two days after arriving there to live with her father in November, according to a recently filed lawsuit.
Ariel died on Nov. 11 after coming into contact with the powerful narcotic that was left out and “easily accessible to an infant” in the room of a tenant who was babysitting her at the Highroad Transitional Living Facility in Nashville, the lawsuit filed by Ariel’s grandfather on July 17 says.
The babysitter found Ariel unresponsive that day, according to an autopsy report by the Davidson County Medical Examiner.
Ariel’s cause of death was listed as “fentanyl toxicity” and was ruled an accident, the report shows. The medical examiner noted that “drugs and drug paraphernalia were present at the scene.”
Ariel’s death was avoidable and a result of negligence, according to her grandfather, Mickey Rose.
Rose is suing Community Care Fellowship, Inc., a non-profit that operates and offers transitional housing to Nashville’s unhoused population at the Highroad facility, which is also named as a defendant in the case. He’s also suing the tenant who babysat Ariel and is identified as “Jane Doe” in the complaint.
“The defendants failed to do their part in keeping my sweet Ariel safe,” Mickey Rose said in a July 17 news release issued by the Stranch, Jennings & Garvey law firm, which is representing him in the case and has been involved in opioid litigation cases.
He is seeking $15 million in damages, the complaint shows.
The lawsuit accuses Community Care Fellowship and the housing facility of failing to prevent illicit drugs from coming into the property, despite knowing “use of illegal or illicit drugs was rampant.”
“They did nothing to stop the flow of drugs into and out of the facility,” Rose said.
The circumstances of Ariel’s death are the subject of an active, open negligent homicide investigation by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department’s Youth Services detectives, public information officer Brooke Reese confirmed in a statement to McClatchy News on July 31.
In a statement to McClatchy News on July 31, the Community Care Fellowship declined to comment on specific details related to the lawsuit because it is a matter of pending litigation.
“We send our sincerest sympathies and condolences to the family,” the non-profit said in a statement.
“CCF has cooperated with police authorities in their investigation of this matter. We will engage in the legal process to address the civil complaint being made against our organization.”
More on the case
Several months before Ariel’s death, she was living in a homeless encampment with her father, according to police footage obtained by WTVF in June.
“I’ve seen that child in here one too many times and I’m not happy,” a police officer is heard telling Ariel’s father in the video, the outlet reported on June 15.
When the officer tells her father Ariel shouldn’t be there, the father said it was temporary, according to WTVF.
According to the lawsuit, Ariel’s aunt had guardianship of her one month before her death. The aunt then placed her back under the care of her father, who was living at the Highroad housing facility by November, the complaint says.
CCF leases the Highroad property, which has a playground and often houses families with children, the complaint says.
According to the lawsuit, CCF received a $4.4 million grant “to provide safe housing” for people in Nashville on Sept. 21, 2022, a few months before Ariel’s death.
Under the grant, and by contract, the Highroad facility is supposed to be drug-free, Attorney J. Gerard Stranch, of Stranch, Jennings & Garvey, told McClatchy News in an interview on July 31.
“Facilities like the Highroad facility are supposed to be transitional homes for people that have gotten clean and are trying to get back on their feet,” he said.
However, the facility has “become another way for the drug dealers to get their product to people easier,” Stranch added.
From Jan. 1, 2022, until the day of Ariel’s death, Metro Nashville police received “more than 145 calls about illicit conduct” at the Highroad property, according to the complaint.
The day after Ariel arrived at Highroad, her father had “Jane Doe” babysit her on Nov. 10, according to the complaint.
Jane Doe lived at Highroad for months and is accused of being a “frequent user of illegal drugs,” according to the complaint, which says CCF employees should have known.
On Nov. 11, Ariel encountered a “lethal dose” of fentanyl within her reach inside Jane Doe’s room, the complaint says.
Ariel either ate or touched the substance, resulting in her fatal overdose, the complaint says. The autopsy report doesn’t specify how Ariel became poisoned by the narcotic.
Fentanyl is a powerful, synthetic opioid estimated to be roughly 100 times stronger than morphine by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
Rose is suing under the Tennessee Drug Dealer Liability Act, “which provides a civil remedy to persons damaged in a community as a result of illegal drug use,” according to the release by Stranch, Jennings & Garvey.
He is also suing over negligence and seeks to recover relief for injuries and damages, including physical pain, emotional suffering and grief, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of earning capacity, loss of life, and more, the complaint shows.
Rose demands a six-person jury trial.
“It’s just a horrifically sad event,” Stranch told McClatchy News. “No parent or grandparent should ever bury a child, particularly because of something that’s preventable.”
This story was originally published July 31, 2023 at 1:48 PM with the headline "Toddler exposed to fentanyl in babysitter’s room died, grandfather says. He’s suing."
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