September 09, 2016
Twitter/East Liverpool, Ohio Police Department; Upper Darby Police Department
Two images of heroin addiction: the image released Friday by police in East Liverpool, Ohio, left, and the image from video released by Upper Darby police of a man shooting heroin and falling out of his seat on a SEPTA bus. Both departments said they put the images on social media to create public awareness of the heroin epidemic.
When Superintendent Michael Chitwood of the Upper Darby Police Department saw a shocking post on one Ohio city's Facebook page that explained why officials uploaded unedited images of two adults overdosing in their car while a toddler sat in the backseat, he thought, "I would do the same thing if it happened here."
Officials from the City of East Liverpool, Ohio, posted the photos on their account Thursday of James Acord and Rhonda Pasek who were driving erratically behind a school bus dropping off children, according to a police report.
Police said that Acord, whose head was nodding back and forth, was "almost unintelligible." Acord explained that he was driving Pasek, who unconscious and turning blue, to the hospital when he became unconscious himself. A 4-year-old was sitting in a car seat behind the two.
Medical services arrived and were able to revive the two after inserting several rounds of Narcan, used to reverse opiate overdoses. A small piece of paper that contained a "pink powdery substance" was also found between Pasek's legs that was then sent to a crime lab.
Acord and Pasek were then taken to the hospital while the toddler was then taken to Columbiana County Children's Services. Acord was charged with endangering children and being stopped in a roadway while Pasek was charged with endangering children and public intoxication. Both were put into Columbiana County Jail.
In an accompanying message, the city said they wanted to post the graphic images to raise awareness about an ongoing heroin epidemic throughout the nation.
"We feel it necessary to show the other side of this horrible drug," officials said in the post. "We feel we need to be a voice for the children caught up in this horrible mess. This child can't speak for himself but we are hopeful his story can convince another user to think twice about injecting this poison while having a child in their custody."
The heroin epidemic isn't plaguing just this small city in Ohio – it's the biggest problem law enforcement officials are dealing with today, Chitwood said.
"It's such a tragic problem," he said. "Families are being destroyed, lives are being destroyed, lives are being taken – I think that sometimes, scare tactics are the way to show people to show what's happening in out communities whether it's in Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Ohio, or Portland, Maine."
In Philadelphia, there were close to 700 overdose- and injury-related deaths in 2015, according to a report from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. Since 2011, heroin-related deaths have spiked.
Chitwood agrees with officials from the city of East Liverpool's decision to post the images. In fact, the Upper Darby Police Department made a similar decision in February.
The department uploaded a video that shows a man allegedly injecting heroin in the middle of a crowded SEPTA bus in broad daylight who was then revived by a police officer administering Narcan.
Dramatic video of male shooting heroin and being saved by Ofc Matt Rugh using Narcan. pic.twitter.com/N0gWdantrJ
— Upper Darby Police (@UDPolice) February 23, 2016
Chitwood said that the department has responded to 122 overdose-related situations – like the one depicted in the video – in the last 20 months.
The video generated both negative and positive feedback, but Chitwood said he stood behind the decision to show the harsh realities of the drug.
"I think a visual shows how bad the problem is," he said. "People can talk about it – but when you see it, I think it has a tremendous impact on the psyche."
