NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The family of a toddler who died of fentanyl poisoning is now suing the Nashville facility where she was found.
The Community Care Foundation manages Highroads Place in Nashville and both are listed as defendants in the lawsuit filed by the grandfather of Ariel Rose.
The Rose family is now seeking $15 million in damages.
Ariel was 22 months old when she was found unresponsive at Highroads Place last November.
Her father was staying at the transition home at the time, but says he left the toddler in the care of a Jane Doe for one night.
Metro Nashville Police said that’s when Ariel was exposed to fentanyl and died of fentanyl poisoning.
An autopsy report showed Ariel had enough fentanyl in her system to kill multiple adults.
Although Jane Doe is listed as a defendant in the lawsuit, attorneys say that the Rose family believes Highroads Place shares in the liability.
According to the lawsuit, there were more than 145 calls made to Metro Nashville Police between January 2022 and when Ariel died in November of that year.
Attorney Isaac Kimes said most of these calls involved drug abuse of some kind and some were fatal.
“We highlighted the fact that there had been more than 100 calls made to this facility. Many of those calls dealing with calls and not just that, but there were actually dead bodies found in the facility dealing with drug overdose…before Ariel ever stepped foot at Highway,” Kimes said.
Highroad Place serves as a transition home for people trying to get back on their feet from any number of things.
In the case of Ariel and her father, both had been living in the now-former Brookmeade homeless encampment.
That’s where many first learned about the toddler who was spotted by police on one occasion living in a tent just feet from an exposed syringe.
Ariel later moved in with her aunt but was eventually reunited with her father at Highroads Place.
The lawsuit claims that the Community Care Fellowship knew people were using drugs in their residences.
The lawsuit goes on to say the defendants should have known about drugs circulating through their facility, but the family believes they did nothing to stop it.
When asked about any liability shared by the family for leaving Ariel in the care of someone with a known history of drug abuse, attorneys said that the family wants those who facilitate the drug use held responsible.
“We want to be preventing those situations from happening. We have an opioid epidemic across the country that we all know about. In this situation, that epidemic made its way into a place where drugs are not supposed to be,” Kimes said.
Community Care Fellowship sent us the following statement:
“We send our sincerest sympathies and condolences to the family. As this is an ongoing legal matter, we’re not in a position to publicly comment on specific details related to the complaint. CCF has cooperated with police authorities in their investigation of this matter. We will engage in the legal process to address the civil complaint being made against our organization.”
Metro Nashville Police have ruled Ariel’s death as negligent homicide, but no one has been arrested.
