Police: 8-Year-Old Boy Dies After Drinking Alcohol

DETROIT (WWJ) - Police suspect alcohol is to blame for the death of an 8-year-old boy on Detroit's east side.

Investigators were interviewing family members Thursday morning on Conley Street, between Ryan and Mound roads, just north of 7 Mile Rd.

Police were earlier called to a local hospital after the child went into cardiac arrest and died. The boy's grandmother reportedly told investigators the child may have drunk an alcoholic beverage mixed up by a family friend. It's not clear at this time what exactly was in it or how much he drank.

There have been no arrests thus far in connection with the case.

Valarie Steppes-Glisson, who lives in neighborhood and knows the family, called the boy's death "devastating."

"Watch your children and keep the alcohol away; and of course you never drink around the kids," she told WWJ's Charlie Langton. "Because when we were little we would do silly things but our parents were very cautious about everything with us."

The Wayne County Medical Examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine a cause of the death.

The boy's name was not immediately released.