Mass. Child Calls 9-1-1 After Finding Four Unconscious Overdose Victims
Oct. 17--A 12-year-old girl looking for a midnight snack at a sleepover yesterday likely saved the lives of her mother and three other women when she called 911 to report the adults were all passed out from apparent accidental heroin overdoses, Springfield police said -- an incident that has sparked a state child welfare investigation.
"She was very upset when she called, telling the CAD (computer-aided dispatch) her mom was unconscious," Springfield police Capt. Cheryl Clapprood said of the alarming 12:24 a.m. call. "Two of the women had pulses and two did not."
The women, all in their early 40s, thought they purchased powdered cocaine, but were snorting lines off a coffee table of a substance that field-tested positive for heroin, Clapprood said. The drugs will be sent to a lab for further analysis.
Clapprood said police officers walked into the single-family home on Ambrose Street to find the women unresponsive amid beer bottles and with music playing.
The women were revived with Narcan nasal spray and injections.
"They were able to walk to the ambulance," Clapprood said,
Four daughters, including the 12-year-old and three 14-year-olds, had been upstairs playing Nintendo while the adults partied downstairs.
"The 12-year-old came downstairs because she was hungry," Clapprood said.
The girls are now staying with family members.
No criminal charges had been filed as of yesterday, but Clapprood said charges haven't been ruled out. She said the address was not one police were previously familiar with.
Investigators have notified the Department of Children and Families, she said.
DCF spokeswoman Andrea Grossman confirmed the department has received a report on the incident and will be investigating.
"I've been on the job for 38 years," Clapprood said, "and I'm just amazed that this opioid epidemic is reaching people in their 40s and 50s."
With last week's shootings of two police officers answering a domestic disturbance call, Clapprood noted officers responding to Ambrose Street were told to use extra caution in case the four unresponsive bodies were shooting victims and police were being lured into a setup.
Copyright 2016 - Boston Herald