Police: Images of man carrying overdosed woman caused scare
Published 4:00 pm Monday, October 31, 2016
- A man carries a woman on Market Street in Sunbury. Police say the unidentified man carried her out of a Chinese restaurant and got into a vehicle on Saturday. The man and woman were identified on Sunday.
SUNBURY, Pa. — Startling photos released over the weekend of a man carrying an unconscious woman out of a Chinese restaurant have turned out to show the aftermath of an apparent heroin overdose.
Captured on surveillance footage, the man brings a woman, slumped over his shoulder, out of the restaurant, places her in a truck and drives away.
Police in the central Pennsylvania city of Sunbury released the images looking for information because they were unclear what was happening.
The image is the latest in a number of drug-related shots released by police to either aid in identifying the subjects or to try and raise awareness of the growing heroin problem.
Multiple images released by police departments in Ohio and Indiana have shown overdosed adults with identifiable children in the shot, leading to questions about the ethics of releasing such material.
The woman in the Sunbury tape was identified Saturday by her mother after stills from the footage were released online.
“We received a phone call and were able to identify the individuals,” said Sunbury Police Chief Tim Miller. “We put these images out to the public so that we could get the help we needed to make sure both people were safe.”
Police issued warnings to the community, Miller said, because they were unclear what had happened in the footage.
According to police, the woman entered the restaurant and shortly after the man entered, ordered and paid for food and searched for the woman in the bathroom. Miller says it appears the woman suffered a heroin overdose in the bathroom, he said.
Police are not releasing the names at this time and Miller would not say if charges are pending.
Capt. Steve Bennick said police began to get several phone calls moments after the images were released to the local newspaper.
“The pictures were put on The Daily Item website and we began to get phone calls,” Bennick said. “This was a huge help to us and we want to thank the public for being active in helping officers.”
Scarcella writes for the Sunbury, Pennsylvania, Daily Item.
