A 20-year-old woman, Brianna Ashanti Lofton, has been arrested over a viral video of a baby allegedly smoking marijuana. The lady was tracked down by police in Raleigh, North Carolina, after the horrifying footage was viewed more than a million times on Facebook. Watch the clip below…
The 10-second clip shows the hand of an adult off-screen holding what appears to be a cigarillo to the child’s lips. The child then makes a cooing sound and appears to inhale before letting out a puff of smoke.
The Raleigh Police Department said on Wednesday that the child was safe and the mother was in custody.
“Big thanks to everyone who posted information about the smoking mother and baby,” department officials told their Facebook followers in a post. “Thanks to your willingness to get involved, the child is now safe and the mother is in police custody.”
Police spokeswoman Laura Hourigan confirmed in an email that officials were referring to the child seen in the video.
It wasn’t immediately clear what substance the child was smoking, but the mother was charged with marijuana possession. Brianna Ashanti Lofton, 20, was also charged with two counts of felony child abuse, according to a police news release.