5-year-old was not high on cocaine after all, new test shows

DETROIT -- Police are no longer pursuing criminal charges against a mother who was initially jailed on the suspicion she allowed her 5-year-old son to ingest cocaine.

Prosecutors now say hospital test results were wrong.

The mother brought her son to Detroit Children's Hospital because he was acting "erratically" on May 15, according to police.

A urine test was conducted and, due "to a technical problem," it produced an erroneous positive result for cocaine, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office said.

Police submitted a warrant review request soon after the false positive test result, but prosecutors returned it to police for more investigation, according to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office.

"Additional toxicology testing in the case revealed that the child did not have cocaine, or any other drugs in his system," the prosecutor's office said.

Child Protective Services also opened an investigation into the mother based upon the incorrect urine test results.

"I'm just completely humiliated," the mother told WXYZ-TV, Channel 7 News. "I brought (my son) to be get screened for ADHD, doing what a mother should do for her child.

"After 36 hours (in jail) they had to let me go. As I'm walking out the Lieutenant waited on me (and) apologized to me and said Children's (Hospital) called him and said the results were a mistake."

Hospital statement as reported by Channel 7 News:

Detroit Medical Center takes its responsibility to our pediatric patients and their families very seriously. Our lab team and our hospital leaders are deeply sorry for the unfortunate situation that occurred as a result of a testing error. We have communicated the error to authorities and have reached out to the family to express our sincere apologies and to confirm that our staff sought out to act in what they believed to be the best interest of the child.

-- Tonita Cheatham, Director of Communications, DMC