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Bluelighter
A few recent news articles
Wilmington, DE.
3 on Heroin were 'Close calls'
One man keeled over Saturday in a Wilmington parking lot. Another man collapsed in his Ogletown home. The third lost consciousness as he drove on U.S. 13 near Minquadale.
All three were near death with suspected heroin overdoses when paramedics arrived, New Castle County Emergency Medical Services Sgt. Kelli Starr-Leach said.
"They were all close calls," she said.
Authorities say any or all of Saturday's overdoses may be related to what police believe is a batch of extra-potent heroin, possibly mixed with fentanyl, a heavy anesthetic. Since April 14, overdoses killed at least 14 in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey -- at least five in New Castle County alone.
Delaware's last death was a 25-year-old found dead Friday in her Westgate Farms home, in the Mill Creek area.
The unidentified men found Saturday were hospitalized after paramedics administered a drug that counteracts the effects of heroin, she said. Their conditions were not disclosed.
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Man charged after heroin overdose
Wilmington, DE
Heroin overdoses in Wilmington and New Castle County continued during the past two days, resulting in drug charges against at least one victim who will be arrested following his release from the hospital.
A warrant was issued Monday for Edwardo Quiroga, 23, of the first block of University Ave., near New Castle, on charges of heroin possession and possession of drug paraphernalia, police said.
New Castle County paramedics who went to Quiroga's home about 6:30 p.m. Sunday found him unresponsive due to a heroin overdose but managed to stabilize him, they said. Quiroga was taken to Christiana Hospital.
Officers with a search warrant later found four bags of heroin labeled "King Kong" in Quiroga's bedroom, along with five hypodermic needles, which prompted the drug charges.
Quiroga was one of four people saved by paramedics Sunday and Monday.
Wilmington police found a 41-year-old man unresponsive Sunday night inside an apartment in the 800 block of N. Market St.
Monday morning, Wilmington officers investigated the apparent heroin overdoses of a 47-year-old man in the 1600 block of W. Fifth St. and a 54-year-old man in the 4300 block of Miller Road.
Wilmington police Master Sgt. Steven Elliott said the overdoses are tied to a batch of heroin mixed with fentanyl, a potent painkiller used in surgeries that heightens the drug's effect.
All four of the people who overdosed on the drug during the weekend are expected to make full recoveries, Elliott said. The bad heroin has been linked to five deaths in New Castle County since April 22.
Wilmington drug officers and detectives are continuing to crack down on drug dealers in an effort to locate the source, officials said. County police spokesman Cpl. Trinidad Navarro said that in the past 10 days, county paramedics have responded to 22 cases of heroin overdoses.
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Heroin's Hell
WILMINGTON -- Robert I. Bovell Jr.'s eyes flickered down briefly before he said how police found his brother.
"Face-down on the ground in an alley at Second and Broom ... dead from an overdose with the fresh needle marks in his arm."
The death of 38-year-old Neil "Jai" Bovell, of Wilmington -- one of seven Delaware fatalities tied to a purer-than-usual batch of heroin and the painkiller fentanyl -- is a scenario experts say is being repeated nationwide.
More than 30 people have been killed by such overdoses across the country since mid-April -- 15 in Philadelphia alone -- and hundreds more have been hospitalized, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
"This is murder in the first degree," said New Castle County Councilman Jea Street.
Law enforcement and other agencies must use whatever resources are needed to "get these murderers and this killer drug off the street," he said, but the solution must be found beyond city, county or state levels.
In separate appeals Wednesday, the Interdenominational Ministers Action Council in Wilmington and a group of city, county, state and federal law enforcement and service agencies -- led by Mayor James M. Baker -- urged unity behind efforts to educate the public about deadly risks of heroin and to help users get recovery services they need.
New Castle County paramedics have responded with police and firefighters to more than 100 suspected overdoses since the rash began, said Chief Lawrence E. Tan, chief of the county's Emergency Medical Services.
Many of the calls -- all requiring full response and advanced life support -- come in as cardiac arrest, breathing difficulties, loss of consciousness or car accidents, and each one is a case of life and death, he said.
Cracking down on sources
Wilmington Police Department Inspector Martin Donahue said officers have been interviewing those who survive overdoses -- and many drug arrests and seizures have resulted, including one dealer arrested April 28 in possession of bags of pure fentanyl.
State prosecutor Steve Wood said heroin users need to know they are making a dangerous choice -- one which could kill them -- when they choose to use the drug.
To dealers, he said, "We're coming after you, we're going to catch you and we're going to put you away."
Assistant special agent in the Drug Enforcement Agency Barbara Roach said the federal agency also is "aggressively pursuing" the sources of the drugs.
Roach, in charge of the Philadelphia Field Division including Delaware, said Philadelphia has had more than 70 overdoses and 15 deaths; Harrisburg had 20 overdoses and four deaths, and Camden, N.J., had 70-plus overdoses, six deaths. Many involved fentanyl, she said, adding, "It's about 100 times more potent than morphine."
Days in Shooters Alley
"The medical examiner said, he told me there was no heroin in him," Bovell said, walking to where his brother died. "It was pure fentanyl in his system."
His brother was found at about 7:30 a.m. April 25 in the alley between boarded, vacant houses in the 200 block of Broom St. Police went there after a neighbor complained of a foul odor. Another neighbor said she saw him go back into the alley two days earlier.
"They call this Shooters Alley," Robert Bovell said, walking on empty drug bags, plastic beverage caps used to heat heroin and discarded lighters. He stepped over other debris ranging from human feces to condoms, and window boards pulled from buildings by those who would find shelter inside after their highs wore off.
In this spot, backed by a park where neighbors say drugs are common, Bovell said his brother sat on the back stoop of a house where a little old lady once kept a tidy home and lovely gardens.
"He was like this," Robert Bovell said, leaning over as if holding a syringe in one hand to his other arm -- the junkie's pose. "One to eight seconds, he was dead," Bovell said.
From other heroin users who attended his brother's funeral Saturday and from interviewing people he knows from his work as a bail bondsman, Robert Bovell said he learned his brother may have been there with a young woman who took the needle and left. When he tried to track her down to find out where the drugs came from, Bovell said he learned that she, too, was dead of an overdose.
Wilmington police said they could not confirm those details, but are investigating the possible link between Bovell's death and that of Weslyn Baldwin, 25, found dead Friday in her Hockessin-area home.
Hoping to spare others such grief and help users stop drugs, Bovell joined the ministers' call to action Wednesday.
Clergy get involved
The ministers called for more community policing, employment and recreation programs, and federal action to fight the flow of illegal drugs. And they said action is needed now, before more lives are lost and summer idleness leads more young people into drug dealing, use and addiction.
"There is a serial killer loose in our community," said the Rev. Silvester Beaman.
Renee Beaman, director of the Beautiful Gate Outreach Center, said the recent overdoses also point out "the direct connection between heroin use and the risk of HIV infection."
The Rev. H. Ward Greer, ministers council president and pastor of Ezion-Mount Carmel United Methodist Church, where the group met Wednesday, said Delaware's most-recent overdose death was next door to the 201-year-old church.
Driving into the church lot Tuesday, Greer saw a body in the lot beyond a fence, "and I knew what I saw lying on the ground was one of the victims of this so-called 'laced heroin.' "
The Rev. Maurice Moyer said stopping the trend will require international muscle on supplying countries.
He, the Rev. Tyrone Johnson and others also offered condolences to the Bovells and other grieving families, and encouraged Delawareans to support them -- as well as those still suffering in addiction -- with compassion and prayer.
A difficult life
Jai Bovell was getting in trouble before he quit high school. His issues were drug-related, petty crime, threatening folks who owed him money. Many times, his brother searched for him, sometimes finding him in Shooters Alley.
Robert Bovell said his brother just got out of jail April 21, after serving six months for violating probation on a charge from the 1980s.
Robert Bovell said his brother told him he was ready to fix his life -- and Robert Bovell believed him.
In Mexico for work, Robert Bovell had his staff post his brother's bail. He planned to help him get into a drug rehab program when he got home, but his trip ended early with the call his brother was dead. Now, despite the family's grief, Bovell said, "at least I know where he is. ... He's in a better place."
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You can find the articles at :
- "3 on Heroin were 'Close Calls'" - http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060430/NEWS/604300403/1006
- "Man charged after Heroin Overdose" - http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060502/NEWS/605020341
- "Heroin's Hell" - http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060504/NEWS/605040382
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Sucks..
Wilmington, DE.
3 on Heroin were 'Close calls'
One man keeled over Saturday in a Wilmington parking lot. Another man collapsed in his Ogletown home. The third lost consciousness as he drove on U.S. 13 near Minquadale.
All three were near death with suspected heroin overdoses when paramedics arrived, New Castle County Emergency Medical Services Sgt. Kelli Starr-Leach said.
"They were all close calls," she said.
Authorities say any or all of Saturday's overdoses may be related to what police believe is a batch of extra-potent heroin, possibly mixed with fentanyl, a heavy anesthetic. Since April 14, overdoses killed at least 14 in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey -- at least five in New Castle County alone.
Delaware's last death was a 25-year-old found dead Friday in her Westgate Farms home, in the Mill Creek area.
The unidentified men found Saturday were hospitalized after paramedics administered a drug that counteracts the effects of heroin, she said. Their conditions were not disclosed.
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Man charged after heroin overdose
Wilmington, DE
Heroin overdoses in Wilmington and New Castle County continued during the past two days, resulting in drug charges against at least one victim who will be arrested following his release from the hospital.
A warrant was issued Monday for Edwardo Quiroga, 23, of the first block of University Ave., near New Castle, on charges of heroin possession and possession of drug paraphernalia, police said.
New Castle County paramedics who went to Quiroga's home about 6:30 p.m. Sunday found him unresponsive due to a heroin overdose but managed to stabilize him, they said. Quiroga was taken to Christiana Hospital.
Officers with a search warrant later found four bags of heroin labeled "King Kong" in Quiroga's bedroom, along with five hypodermic needles, which prompted the drug charges.
Quiroga was one of four people saved by paramedics Sunday and Monday.
Wilmington police found a 41-year-old man unresponsive Sunday night inside an apartment in the 800 block of N. Market St.
Monday morning, Wilmington officers investigated the apparent heroin overdoses of a 47-year-old man in the 1600 block of W. Fifth St. and a 54-year-old man in the 4300 block of Miller Road.
Wilmington police Master Sgt. Steven Elliott said the overdoses are tied to a batch of heroin mixed with fentanyl, a potent painkiller used in surgeries that heightens the drug's effect.
All four of the people who overdosed on the drug during the weekend are expected to make full recoveries, Elliott said. The bad heroin has been linked to five deaths in New Castle County since April 22.
Wilmington drug officers and detectives are continuing to crack down on drug dealers in an effort to locate the source, officials said. County police spokesman Cpl. Trinidad Navarro said that in the past 10 days, county paramedics have responded to 22 cases of heroin overdoses.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heroin's Hell
WILMINGTON -- Robert I. Bovell Jr.'s eyes flickered down briefly before he said how police found his brother.
"Face-down on the ground in an alley at Second and Broom ... dead from an overdose with the fresh needle marks in his arm."
The death of 38-year-old Neil "Jai" Bovell, of Wilmington -- one of seven Delaware fatalities tied to a purer-than-usual batch of heroin and the painkiller fentanyl -- is a scenario experts say is being repeated nationwide.
More than 30 people have been killed by such overdoses across the country since mid-April -- 15 in Philadelphia alone -- and hundreds more have been hospitalized, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
"This is murder in the first degree," said New Castle County Councilman Jea Street.
Law enforcement and other agencies must use whatever resources are needed to "get these murderers and this killer drug off the street," he said, but the solution must be found beyond city, county or state levels.
In separate appeals Wednesday, the Interdenominational Ministers Action Council in Wilmington and a group of city, county, state and federal law enforcement and service agencies -- led by Mayor James M. Baker -- urged unity behind efforts to educate the public about deadly risks of heroin and to help users get recovery services they need.
New Castle County paramedics have responded with police and firefighters to more than 100 suspected overdoses since the rash began, said Chief Lawrence E. Tan, chief of the county's Emergency Medical Services.
Many of the calls -- all requiring full response and advanced life support -- come in as cardiac arrest, breathing difficulties, loss of consciousness or car accidents, and each one is a case of life and death, he said.
Cracking down on sources
Wilmington Police Department Inspector Martin Donahue said officers have been interviewing those who survive overdoses -- and many drug arrests and seizures have resulted, including one dealer arrested April 28 in possession of bags of pure fentanyl.
State prosecutor Steve Wood said heroin users need to know they are making a dangerous choice -- one which could kill them -- when they choose to use the drug.
To dealers, he said, "We're coming after you, we're going to catch you and we're going to put you away."
Assistant special agent in the Drug Enforcement Agency Barbara Roach said the federal agency also is "aggressively pursuing" the sources of the drugs.
Roach, in charge of the Philadelphia Field Division including Delaware, said Philadelphia has had more than 70 overdoses and 15 deaths; Harrisburg had 20 overdoses and four deaths, and Camden, N.J., had 70-plus overdoses, six deaths. Many involved fentanyl, she said, adding, "It's about 100 times more potent than morphine."
Days in Shooters Alley
"The medical examiner said, he told me there was no heroin in him," Bovell said, walking to where his brother died. "It was pure fentanyl in his system."
His brother was found at about 7:30 a.m. April 25 in the alley between boarded, vacant houses in the 200 block of Broom St. Police went there after a neighbor complained of a foul odor. Another neighbor said she saw him go back into the alley two days earlier.
"They call this Shooters Alley," Robert Bovell said, walking on empty drug bags, plastic beverage caps used to heat heroin and discarded lighters. He stepped over other debris ranging from human feces to condoms, and window boards pulled from buildings by those who would find shelter inside after their highs wore off.
In this spot, backed by a park where neighbors say drugs are common, Bovell said his brother sat on the back stoop of a house where a little old lady once kept a tidy home and lovely gardens.
"He was like this," Robert Bovell said, leaning over as if holding a syringe in one hand to his other arm -- the junkie's pose. "One to eight seconds, he was dead," Bovell said.
From other heroin users who attended his brother's funeral Saturday and from interviewing people he knows from his work as a bail bondsman, Robert Bovell said he learned his brother may have been there with a young woman who took the needle and left. When he tried to track her down to find out where the drugs came from, Bovell said he learned that she, too, was dead of an overdose.
Wilmington police said they could not confirm those details, but are investigating the possible link between Bovell's death and that of Weslyn Baldwin, 25, found dead Friday in her Hockessin-area home.
Hoping to spare others such grief and help users stop drugs, Bovell joined the ministers' call to action Wednesday.
Clergy get involved
The ministers called for more community policing, employment and recreation programs, and federal action to fight the flow of illegal drugs. And they said action is needed now, before more lives are lost and summer idleness leads more young people into drug dealing, use and addiction.
"There is a serial killer loose in our community," said the Rev. Silvester Beaman.
Renee Beaman, director of the Beautiful Gate Outreach Center, said the recent overdoses also point out "the direct connection between heroin use and the risk of HIV infection."
The Rev. H. Ward Greer, ministers council president and pastor of Ezion-Mount Carmel United Methodist Church, where the group met Wednesday, said Delaware's most-recent overdose death was next door to the 201-year-old church.
Driving into the church lot Tuesday, Greer saw a body in the lot beyond a fence, "and I knew what I saw lying on the ground was one of the victims of this so-called 'laced heroin.' "
The Rev. Maurice Moyer said stopping the trend will require international muscle on supplying countries.
He, the Rev. Tyrone Johnson and others also offered condolences to the Bovells and other grieving families, and encouraged Delawareans to support them -- as well as those still suffering in addiction -- with compassion and prayer.
A difficult life
Jai Bovell was getting in trouble before he quit high school. His issues were drug-related, petty crime, threatening folks who owed him money. Many times, his brother searched for him, sometimes finding him in Shooters Alley.
Robert Bovell said his brother just got out of jail April 21, after serving six months for violating probation on a charge from the 1980s.
Robert Bovell said his brother told him he was ready to fix his life -- and Robert Bovell believed him.
In Mexico for work, Robert Bovell had his staff post his brother's bail. He planned to help him get into a drug rehab program when he got home, but his trip ended early with the call his brother was dead. Now, despite the family's grief, Bovell said, "at least I know where he is. ... He's in a better place."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can find the articles at :
- "3 on Heroin were 'Close Calls'" - http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060430/NEWS/604300403/1006
- "Man charged after Heroin Overdose" - http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060502/NEWS/605020341
- "Heroin's Hell" - http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060504/NEWS/605040382
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Sucks..
