Images of allegedly overdosed couple in
Ohio with boy in car go viral
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[September 10, 2016]
By Dan Whitcomb
(Reuters) - Pictures taken by a small-town
Ohio police department showing a couple allegedly overdosed on heroin in
their car, the woman's son ignored in the back, circulated widely on
social media on Friday as evidence of an epidemic in use of the drug.
The images were posted on the Facebook page of the East Liverpool, Ohio
Police Department, along with an officer's report of the incident that
led to the arrest of James Acord and Rhonda Pasek on child endangerment
charges.
"We are well aware that some may be offended by these images and for
that we are truly sorry, but it is time that the non drug using public
sees what we are now dealing with on a daily basis," the police
department said in a statement on the Facebook page.
"The poison known as heroin has taken a strong grip on many communities
not just ours, the difference is we are willing to fight this problem
until it's gone and if that means we offend a few people along the way
we are prepared to deal with that," the department said.
The photos show Acord, 50, and Pasek, 47, passed out in the front seat
of their Ford Explorer, their mouths agape, as the child stares silently
into the camera from the back.
The post had generated 20,000 shares and nearly 3,000 comments as of
Friday afternoon, about 24 hours later.
According to a police report posted along with the pictures, an officer
driving his personal vehicle approached Acord's car after seeing it
weaving erratically back and forth before drifting to a stop in the
roadway.
Officer Kevin Thompson wrote that Acord, whose head was "bobbing back
and forth", his speech almost unintelligible, told him he was taking
Pasek to the hospital and attempted to drive away before falling
completely unconscious.
Pasek was also unconscious and turning blue, the officer wrote. Both
were revived by emergency medical technicians using several rounds of a
drug used to reverse an opiate overdose, according to Thompson's report.
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East Liverpool Police Department photo shows two adults, who police
believe were on heroin, passed out in a car with a little boy in the
backseat in East Liverpool, Ohio, U.S. in this image released on
September 9, 2016. Courtesy East Liverpool Police Department/Handout
via REUTERS
The officer said that a folded up piece of paper found between
Pasek's legs contained a small amount of a pink, powdery substance.
Acord was arrested on suspicion of endangering a child and a traffic
offense. Pasek was taken into custody on child endangerment and
public intoxication charges. The boy was taken into the custody of
county child protection services agents.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by James Dalgleish)
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