On Friday, Grayson County law enforcement, EMS and other first responders were dispatched to at least five overdose incidents in less than eight hours.
The overdose culprit appears to be heroin in most if not all the cases. Although, it’s unclear if the drugs ingested by the people who overdosed came from a “bad” batch, or were laced with another substance, possibly the powerful pain reliever fentanyl.
The rash of overdoses began in the mid-afternoon Friday and continued to about 10:45 Friday night. None of the overdoses were fatal.
The spate of heroin-induced ODs Friday follows a week where first responders were dispatched to at least one overdose. And on Monday afternoon, a Bee Spring man, 35-year-old Anthony Schatt, was found unresponsive at Ralph’s Market with a syringe in his hand and over 10 grams of heroin in his possession. His 14-month-old baby was in the car, as well.
After being medically cleared, Schatt was lodged in the Grayson County Detention on a laundry list of felony charges.
One arrest was made Friday night when a Leitchfield woman, who had overdosed earlier in the day, took a friend to Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center (TLRMC) after he also overdosed.
The incident began at 9:40 when the Leitchfield Police Department and Grayson County Sheriff’s Office responded to TLRMC after being informed by Central Dispatch that an overdose victim was being transported to the hospital by private means.
Upon Deputy Andy Vincent arriving, he observed an empty red Toyota Camry in the parking lot with no license plate. Vincent made contact with hospital staff who told the deputy the male overdose victim was receiving treatment, and that the woman who brought him left the area on foot traveling in an unknown direction, according to the arrest citation.
Vincent was then told by a witness that the woman who dropped off the overdose victim walked toward the north end of TLRMC. After a brief search, Vincent located the woman, 43-year-old Cassandra J. Whitaker, of Leitchfield, in the “back parking lot of the hospital,” where she told Vincent she drove the overdose victim to the hospital, the citation states.
Further investigation revealed that Whitaker overdosed about six hours prior after ingesting what she thought was heroin, according to the citation, although she told police she thinks the drug she took may have been fentanyl.
Whitaker consented to a field sobriety test, conducted by Deputy Jason Luedke, and was arrested and charged with DUI (non-alcohol).
Other than Vincent and Luedke, the officers and deputy responding to the scene included Leitchfield PD Sgt. Keith Harrell, Officers Kelsey Overton and Chase Melton, along with Grayson County Sgt. Fred Norder.
At approximately 10:45, just as police wound up their on-scene investigation at TLRMC, Central Dispatch reported another overdose had occurred, this one at a mobile home park on High Street.
The Leitchfield Fire Department and EMS quickly responded to the scene, along with multiple law enforcement officers.
The High Street overdose victim, a female, was transported to Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center by EMS after being found unresponsive and receiving at least two doses of Narcan (an opioid overdose reversal agent) at the residence, according to a first responder.
The investigation into the rash of overdoses is ongoing.
(Headline photo: Police investigate an overdose on High Street in Leitchfield)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
