The 4-year-old Ohio boy featured in a now-viral photo shared by police that shows his grandmother strung out on heroin at a traffic stop has been placed in the custody of a great-aunt and great-uncle who reside in South Carolina, NBC News reported Wednesday, citing an attorney for the child’s maternal great-grandparents.
“[Ronda] Pasek was granted custody of the boy just six weeks before she and 47-year-old James Lee Acord were arrested last Wednesday by police in East Liverpool, Ohio — and the city decided to make an example of them by posting the now-infamous photo of the couple with the 4-year-old online to graphically illustrate the dangers of ’the poison known as heroin,’ ” said NBC News.
The decision of the police department has proven controversial, particularly as a minor child was involved and his face was not blurred out by the police department. East Liverpool police last week said that they had received approval from a legal adviser before posting the photo.
“The city of East Liverpool humiliated my family and humiliated that little boy,” a sister of Ms. Pasek’s said, NBC News reported. “They could have blurred his face, and they didn’t. And now they’re taking him away from my sister. I’m not condoning what Rhonda done, but what they did to her and what they’re doing to her grandson is too much.”
But city officials are unapologetic and say under existing law, they cannot blur out photos that are public record.
“As a public official, I can’t blur public records, and this photo is a public record,” East Liverpool Director of Public Safety Brian Allen told NBC News. “It’s all or nothing for us. We’re a government agency posting it. It’s not like we can willy-nilly do what we want.”
Various news organizations covering the story, including NBC News and The Washington Times, have made sure to redact the boy’s face from the now-viral photo.
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