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Father Arrested For Allegedly Smoking Pot With 8-Year-Old

MIDLAND (KDKA) – A Beaver County man is accused of smoking marijuana with his 8-year-old child.

Brian Benson: "I was smoking in my car, in my buddy's car. He lit a joint up."

KDKA's Brenda Waters: "Was there a kid in the car?"

Benson: "Huh?"

Waters: "Was there an 8-year-old child in the car?"

Benson: "His kids were in the car and my kids were in the car, yes."

That's Benson's side of the story. But, according to police records, an 8-year-old boy, who is identified as Benson's son, told Midland Police that he and his father smoked marijuana together.

Waters: "So, the one 8-year-old is saying that he smoked with you?"

Benson: "No, he was in the car and he knows that basically smoking cigarettes around him is just as bad as him smoking it."

Waters: "So, you didn't sit down and smoke with the kid?"

Benson: "No, I would never do that."

Benson says he and another man were in a car leaving Midland, headed to Pittsburgh with three children in tow - two toddlers belonging to his friend and Benson's 8-year-old son.

Although he says he was not smoking marijuana, he did tell KDKA that he is a heroin addict. When he returned home that day, he says it was what he was doing that prompted a woman he calls his adoptive mother to call 911.

"I was nodding off on the heroin," said Benson. "I was falling asleep, and she thought I was on something and wanted to make sure… call 911 to make sure I was okay."

Waters: "And that's when the whole thing came out?"

Benson: "Yeah."

Benson still lives at home with his adoptive parents, as does his son, but he claims he has been clean for three weeks. He says he did turn over three packets of heroin to police that day as well as needles.

Waters: "How do you feel about what happened and what you're accused of?"

Benson: "Disgusted, because it's my little baby."

Benson was charged with possession and endangering the welfare of a child, but was never jailed. He has a preliminary hearing Oct. 3. He hasn't decided how he will plead.

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