Drug overdoses in weird locations, another sign of the opioid epidemic

Credit: Spencer Platt

Credit: Spencer Platt

As the opioid crisis intensifies across the country, police and medics on Ohio are treating overdoses at some unusual locations. Here is a sampling from June:

Man, 24, in church | June 25

A co-pastor with Sons of Light Ministries said he's glad the man who overdosed on heroin did so in a bathroom at the Dayton church, otherwise help could have come too late for the man identified in a police report as John Morgan, 24.

"This is a wake-up call for us. We're not heroic," Edward Crislip said in a 5-minute, 4-second video posted to Facebook the day afterward.

Crislip said it was frightening for people and especially children to see the man on the bathroom floor, literally dying right in front of them. A medic crew administered Narcan and took Morgan to Miami Valley Hospital.

Man, 46, under moving train | June 23

Emergency crews say a Middletown man who overdosed is lucky to be alive after he fell onto nearby railroad tracks.

Jesse O’Neill, 46, allegedly overdosed and fell onto the railroad tracks near University Boulevard and wasn’t hit when a Norfolk-Southern train passed over him around 8:30 p.m., officials said.

He was revived when paramedics gave him five milligrams of Narcan, according to a Middletown Division of Police report. He was taken to Atrium Medical Center.

The conductor told police he saw the man lying between the tracks, and by the time the train stopped, 26 rail cars had passed over the man.

Woman, 38, at Kroger supermarket | June 21

A 38-year-old Dayton woman overdosed at the Kroger supermarket at 1024 South Smithville Road. She was taken to Miami Valley Hospital after medics revived her with Narcan. It is unknown whether she used drugs while inside the supermarket.

Woman, 63, on I-75 | June 15

A 63-year-old Miamisburg woman was taken to a hospital after reportedly overdosing on Interstate 75 near Route 35 in Dayton.

When police arrived, a group of people were outside a blue Chrysler looking inside. They told police a woman was passed out, and they had put the car in park and removed the keys.

Emergency personnel used several doses of Narcan to save the woman, who admitted to taking the pills, according to a Dayton police incident report.

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