Two adult drug addicts were arrested this past Wednesday for driving out of control and eventually skidding to a stop as a school bus was dropping off children at a bus stop in East Liverpool, Ohio. The man, who was identified as 47-year-old James Acord, and his passenger, 50-year-old Rhonda Pasek, were both suspected of being high on heroin.
Acord told the officer who arrived on the scene that he was taking Pasek to the hospital. The woman was passed out in the passenger seat and was already turning blue. Pasek’s eyes had pinpoint pupils, his head was bobbing and he was barely coherent.
The officer reached into the car to turn it off when he noticed a little 4-year-old boy in the back seat. Police Chief John Lane speculated that this was probably not the first time the boy had been in danger, saying, “I imagine that little kid that’s in that car, he’s probably seen that at home probably dozens of times where they’re passed out with needles in their arms.”
Lane also said he doesn’t often see people able to drive in this bad of condition: “We’ll find people passed out in parking lots, and sometimes in parks and out-of-the-way places. They’ll shoot up and pass out.”
The police report says there was a pink, powdery substance found in the front passenger seat inside a folded piece of paper that was sent out to be tested.
The addicts were given an opioid-reversal drug known as Narcan and taken to the hospital. Later they were booked at the Columbiana County Jail where they are facing a myriad of charges. The 4-year-old boy was taken into the protective custody of children’s services.
East Liverpool police say they posted the graphic photos on their Facebook page “to show the other side of this horrible drug” and to be a voice for children who can’t speak for themselves. “We are well aware that some may be offended by these images and for that we are truly sorry,” they wrote, “but it is time that the non drug using public sees what we are now dealing with on a daily basis.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member