Daycare owner who saved 3-year-old who was chewing crack cocaine speaks out

The owner of a West Philadelphia day care is speaking out after police say saved a toddler who somehow got her hands on some crack cocaine.

"The mom says she's doing fine. No signs of anything so far," said Sereda Thompson. She's relived but still very emotional after she found a 3-year-old girl in her daycare with a substance in her mouth that police say was later determined to be crack cocaine.

"For a substance like that to be in a child's system that I know, that's very disheartening. I would never want any child to ever experience anything like that. My emotions are so mixed right now. I'm not even concerned about the business. It's more so about the child," said Thompson who is the owner of the Early Learning Daycare on the 5200 block of Haverford Avenue in West Philly where the incident happened Tuesday morning.

She says she noticed the child chewing but they had not yet been served breakfast. She checked and found a packet in the child's mouth. Thompson says she immediately called authorities and then rushed the child to the hospital where she remains tonight. Police say she saved the little girl's life.

"We practice our emergency procedures so everyone was able to react in a timely and effective manner and that's just what happened. It's not the fact that she's in a daycare. It's personal. It's a child that I know, that I love and that I care about," said Thompson.

Police are still investigating where and how the toddler got the drugs. The daycare owner feels strongly that it wasn't inside her building. Police are looking into whether the child may have had the drugs when she was dropped off.

No charges have been filed.