Boca Raton mother found unconscious with girl crying in van, police say

'I'm under a lot of stress,' Colleen Nichols tells police

BOCA RATON, Fla. – A Boca Raton mother faces a child neglect charge after she passed out from a suspected drug overdose with her 4-year-old daughter crying in a van, police said.

Colleen Nichols, 30, was arrested Monday after a passerby saw the girl crying and noticed her mother unconscious in the driver's seat. He called 911.

According to a Boca Raton police report, the van was in a parking space with all of the doors closed and the windows rolled up. The girl was crying and said, "I just want to go to school."

When police arrived, the girl told them that Nichols "keeps falling asleep and not waking up." She also spoke to the 911 dispatcher when the good Samaritan called authorities. 

"Last night, she fell asleep and again and again, over and over and over," the girl told the dispatcher.

A Boca Raton Fire Rescue captain told police that Nichols "responded positively to Narcan, and that only means one thing." Narcan is a drug used by first responders to reverse the effects of opioids.

Police said a prescription bottle of klonopin was found in the van. Police said it had been filled with 30 pills on Sunday and only had two left.

Nichols told police that she couldn't recall how she got into the van or the ambulance. Police said she was "generally uncooperative" and denied using heroin.

"I don't know, I must have blacked out," she said, according to the report. "I'm under a lot of stress."

A Palm Beach County judge ordered Nichols not to have contact with her daughter. She was released from jail on a $1,000 bond.