Police in East Liverpool, Ohio have placed some very disturbing photos online in a bid to help prevent heroin addiction. The approach is garnering attention, but the strategy is not without controversy.
Four photos were placed on the City of East Liverpool’s Facebook page. Two of the images are of two strung out adults with a child in the back seat of their vehicle with the other two images providing the corresponding police report. The images that appear on the social media service do not blur the child’s face, so we’ve simply linked to the page and are electing to share a blurred version of the two key images.
East Liverpool police share graphic photos of adults who overdosed with 4-year-old in car https://t.co/sZOM6IIzUP pic.twitter.com/5fvRJh4p9P
— News 5 Cleveland (@WEWS) September 9, 2016
According to police, the photos were taken at a traffic stop where the driver was weaving erratically with his vehicle. The driver attempted to explain that the other adult in the vehicle was being taken to the hospital, but lost consciousness while trying to communicate. The child in the back seat was the passed out passenger’s 4-year-old son. The city says they wanted to display these pictures to combat the drug epidemic facing their community.
We feel it necessary to show the other side of this horrible drug. We feel we need to be a voice for the children caught up in this horrible mess. This child can’t speak for himself but we are hopeful his story can convince another user to think twice about injecting this poison while having a child in their custody.
We are well aware that some may be offended by these images and for that we are truly sorry, but it is time that the non drug using public sees what we are now dealing with on a daily basis. The poison known as heroin has taken a strong grip on many communities not just ours, the difference is we are willing to fight this problem until it’s gone and if that means we offend a few people along the way we are prepared to deal with that.
The passed out mom would require Narcan from emergency medical technicians after being discovered. She would plead not guilty to charges of endangering a child, disorderly conduct and public intoxication. The driver of the vehicle pleaded no contest to operating a vehicle while impaired and endangering a child. He’s been sentenced to 360 days in jail.
Comments beneath the startling anti-heroin post have been a relatively mixed bag. Responses have ranged from outrage over not blurring the faces of the people in the picture to enthusiastic support for using such a provocative tactic. How do you feel about this approach? Share your thoughts in the comments.
(Via CNN)