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One man dies, two other victims to hospital in drug overdose at Cal Anderson

One man died and another was in critical condition Sunday night after Seattle Fire and SPD responded to three people suffering heroin overdoses on the sports field at Cal Anderson Park. UPDATE: SFD says the female may have been suffering a medical issue “not related to the overdose.” 

SFD’s Aid 25 unit was called to the Bobby Morris Playfield around 5:20 PM to a report of a female suffering an apparent seizure. The crew arrived to find the female and two other males suffering a drug overdose. Additional SFD units arrived and began CPR on the field in the middle of a busy night in Pike/Pine and as a baseball game continued on the diamond nearby.

Seattle Fire reported that one male died at the scene following 20 minutes of CPR while another male was transported to Harborview in critical condition. The female victim was also transported to the hospital in reported stable condition.

According to Seattle Police, the three victims suffered heroin overdoses. The incident is being investigated. UPDATE:  “Three individuals who know me contacted me and said that from their understanding ‘there was some bad meth going around,'” an officer’s report on the incident reads. The officer writes that SFD responders at the scene said the three victims were “under the influence of heroin” but police found no drug paraphernalia. “It is unknown if subjects had mixed the two drugs,” the officer writes. According to the report, SPD was able to identify the dead man from a medical bracelet he was wearing.

Last week, SPD announced the early results of its “9 1/2 Block” effort to combat an “open air drug market” in downtown Seattle. East Precinct and city officials have said that the area around Cal Anderson has also been identified as another of Seattle’s “drug market” areas and that patrol and investigative efforts would also be brought to bear around the popular Capitol Hill open space.

 

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Dave
Dave
8 years ago

That’s awesome! Right on the field where kids play and in a neighborhood park. At what point do we this type of behavior is enough, it seems like we protest almost everthing else. How bout Kshama Sawant come up with solutions to the homeless and safety issues on the Hill instead of pandering to a specific crowd. Three people overdosing in a public park effects everyone on any economic level.

Mimi
Mimi
8 years ago
Reply to  Dave

Your complete lack of empathy is more disturbing to me than any homeless people or drug activity in the neighborhood.

Zac
Zac
8 years ago

This is a tragedy. But it is real life. It’s incredibly grieving to me, as I live 1 block away. Dave’s comment seems greatly callous and untimely. It’s sad that in our consumer driven society that our response to this tragedy is…”MAKE ME SAFER, GET RID OF HOMELESS PEOPLE, so that I am not bothered by such real life tragedy.”

I hope that the dead’s family is comforted well as they grieve their loss, and that the other two are able to find freedom from their addiction.

laura
laura
8 years ago
Reply to  Zac

Zac – thank you for your post. Not every heroin addict is a “throwaway.” My daughter was brutally raped and as a result, turned to Xanax for self-medication from the PTSD. She had a shoulder surgery and was given Oxycontin, of all things, and voila! Addiction was instant. After 11 rehabs due to the Oxy abuse turning into heroin because of the lower cost, we know that one day we will more than likely be burying our child. How about we as a society change the laws that criminalize drug addiction and work towards insurance companies treating opiate addicts longer than the ridiculously low amount of 3 weeks to 2 months rather than condemn addicts as scum? Yeah, I’m talking to you, DAVE.

John Smith
John Smith
8 years ago

Junkies shooting up shouldn’t result in an expensive emergency response.

Jehnay
Jehnay
8 years ago
Reply to  John Smith

John, if it were someone in your family, wouldn’t you want them treated with the same respect and dignity you say these people don’t deserve?

laura
laura
8 years ago
Reply to  Jehnay

Thank you, Jehnay. Exactly. John Smith – you have no idea. Junkies? No, human beings with a disease that you have no concept of.

M.C.Barrett
M.C.Barrett
8 years ago
Reply to  John Smith

Oh, I see. We can withhold medical care if the person in trouble did something naughty/doesn’t have any money. That makes us good people.

Sean
Sean
8 years ago
Reply to  John Smith

John-

That is about the most pitiful comment I’ve ever read on the internet. And that’s saying a LOT>

Mrldg
Mrldg
8 years ago

Does the SPD have emergency Narcan injection kits? If not, why not? May have saved someone’s life this time.

Gabby
Gabby
8 years ago
Reply to  Mrldg

They do, but in some cases it is too late and in a lot of recent cases, the heroin is laced with other drugs that don’t respond to narcan and the addicts who shoot the drugs are unaware that the dealer sold them something that is going to kill them.

I’m also stunned at some of the insensitive comments here. Heroin addicts span all facets of society. They are sons and daughters, mothers, sisters, brothers. Getting hooked on heroin can happen to anyone who has ever swallowed an opiate painkiller that was prescribed to them. No one wants to be a heroin addict.

Before Cal Anderson Park was redesigned ten years ago, it was a needle park. The new playfields and water structure did not change that. If the city doesn’t address the roots of the problems, the problems aren’t going to simply go away just because there’s a new fountain pool there. And those actions should be taken to save lives, not to boost the value of the ugly condos for app coders that have displaced artists on Capitol Hill.

We need more intervention for addicts and way more aggression in finding dealers and getting them off the street. So many recent overdoses are because of bad heroin and what it is laced with. No one knows this better than first responders – they are dealing with this every day now.

Lynn E
Lynn E
8 years ago
Reply to  Gabby

thank you…you are so right

laura
laura
8 years ago
Reply to  Gabby

Gabby – thank you. I posted in response to Dave’s heartless remark. My daughter is a heroin addict. My precious, honor student who was enrolled in Berkeley when she was brutally raped spiraled into addiction as a means of self-medicating her PTSD. There was never a more loved, more cared for child that she was. If that was my daughter who overdosed in the park, I would be in absolute despair to read the heartless remarks here. Who the hell do these people think addicts are? These are loved ones with a disease. My daughter has been to 11 rehabs. Trust me, NOBODY goes to 11 rehabs unless they want to get better. I have seen firsthand the death grip heroin has on my daughter and how it has hijacked her brain. Shame on anyone who thinks these lives don’t matter.

Andy O)))
Andy O)))
8 years ago

I don’t understand why SPD lets that high drug use area exist. It’s one block from the police department and everyone knows what goes on there!

JTContinental
JTContinental
8 years ago

Everyone seems outraged by their own hypothetical scenarios.

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Chandler
Chandler
8 years ago

3rd/Pike/Pine/Westlake has already gotten noticeably better in the past week since the big actions taken there. Hopefully the Pike/Pine section of Capitol Hill plus the Ave. in the U District are the next areas they tackle.

Christine H
Christine H
8 years ago

Putting pressure on 1 area just moves it to another (usually adjacent) area. It’s like squeezing a balloon. This is such a complex issue; there’ll never be an easy fix for this, never has been. But in a park, in an area used by a wide range of people, the blatant drug use (and other activity) has to be shut down. On the side walk in front of M. Moon’s, I saw a crack pipe. And over by the kid’s playground, there was a man taking a piss against one of the walls. Public health has to come first.

AR
AR
8 years ago
Reply to  Christine H

Agreed. They need to get stuff under control over there. I saw a man jacking off by the play ground at noon on a Sunday right in the middle of the sidewalk. Really? Like I need to see that, let alone people’s children.