Newfoundland police charge 19-year-old in teen boy’s fatal overdose

A Royal Newfoundland Constabulary police car is shown in St. John's in a June 2020 photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sarah Smellie

ST. JOHN'S — Police in Newfoundland have charged a 19-year-old with manslaughter in the fatal overdose of a 14-year-old boy.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary says the teen was found unresponsive on March 14 at a home in Mount Pearl, N.L., near St. John’s.

A news release says he was pronounced dead after he was rushed to the hospital.

Police say the boy took pills he believed to be Xanax and Dilaudid, but they contained a “deadly concoction of synthetic opioids.”

The force’s major crimes unit seized various substances, including the synthetic opioid phenazolam, from a St. John’s residence in May.

The Constabulary says it arrested a 19-year-old male Thursday on charges including manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and possession of cocaine, ketamine and phenazolam.

The Canadian Press