2 charged after 3-year-old boy dies from cocaine toxicity in Mercer County

Two adults are facing charges after a 3-year-old died from cocaine toxicity in Mercer County, Pennsylvania State Police announced on Monday. 

Felicesha Hardman, 32, and Wade "Manny" Vincent Daniels, 35, are facing several charges, including homicide and involuntary manslaughter, in the boy's death. Both were involved in a car crash on Orangeville Road in West Salem Township on Sunday and were flown to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, police said. Daniels was arrested by the Mahoning County Sheriff's Office on a pre-existing warrant, and troopers said Hardman is still in the hospital for "serious" injuries. 

Police said first responders were called to a home on Columbia Avenue in Greenville shortly before 11 a.m. on June 27 for a report of a 3-year-old boy found unresponsive and not breathing. The boy, whose identity hasn't been released, was declared dead at the scene. 

After a forensic autopsy, the Mercer County coroner determined that the boy's cause of death was cocaine toxicity and the manner of death was ruled a homicide. 

State police said after an "extensive" investigation, troopers learned that Hardman and Daniels were involved in buying, using and selling drugs while living at the home. The day before the boy died, troopers said Hardman and Daniels went somewhere to buy drugs, which they admitted to later losing in the home where the boy was under their care at the time. 

A search warrant turned up "significant evidence of frequent drug use and distribution" at the home, police said, and a search of electronic devices confirmed "the frequent purchase, use and sales of controlled substances." 

Hardman and Daniels will be extradited back to Mercer County to be arraigned, police said, adding that the investigation into the boy's death continues.