A version of the video which was posted by a user who urged the mother’s arrest shows the hand of an adult off-screen holding what appears to be a cigarillo to the child’s lips. The child then makes a cooing sound and appears to inhale before letting out a puff of smoke.
The Raleigh Police Department released a statement on Wednesday saying that the child was safe and the mother was in custody.
“Big thanks to everyone who posted information about the smoking mother and baby,” the department officials say in a Facebook post.
“Thanks to your willingness to get involved, the child is now safe and the mother is in police custody” the message adds.
According to a police news release, although, it wasn’t immediately clear what substance the child was smoking, the mother, Brianna Ashanti Lofton, 20 was charged with marijuana possession and two counts of felony child abuse.
The baby has been placed with the county’s child protective services department and a phone listing for Lofton couldn’t be found through a public records search.
