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Child Found Crying In Van With Mom Unconscious, Behind The Wheel

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BOCA RATON (CBSMiami) -- A witness called police after finding a mother, unconscious in a car, with her child crying and saying, "I just want to go to school!"

Boca Raton Fire Officials believe she might have overdosed.

The witness called police around 8 a.m.  Monday saying there was a van parked in a parking spot near 1230 NW 13th Street with a woman in the driver's seat and a 4-year-old girl in the back that could be heard crying.

The van was parked with all the doors closed, windows up and the ignition was off, police said.

Officers have since confirmed the woman as 30-year-old Colleen Nichols.

When rescue crews got there, they gave Nichols Narcan which made her somewhat responsive, crews told police.

Fire officials say since Nichols responded positively to the Narcan, "that only means one thing" since it's a drug given to people with a life-threatening overdose. Narcan reverses the effects of opiates like heroin.

Boca Raton Police posted a call between the little girl and the 911 dispatcher during the whole thing.

Investigators say they found a prescription bottle of klonopin in her car that was filled with 30 pills but only had two left.

When officers interviewed Nichols, she denied using any heroin and could not remember how she got into the van. She told officers she didn't know where her daughter was and clarified,  "I must have blacked out, I'm under a lot of stress."

Officers took Nichols to a hospital to be checked out and later arrested her on a charge for child neglect.

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