GREEN TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Law enforcement officials across the Tri-State say they’re alarmed about a growing trend: people overdosing on heroin while driving.
“It’s happening much too frequently,” said Green Township Police Lt. Jim Vetter.
Vetter’s department was one of the first to respond to a rollover crash on Friday, Jan. 22 — a crash police said was caused when 27-year-old Amanda Gordon of Indiana overdosed while driving on Interstate 74. The couple had their two young sons in the car at the time.
Gordon was charged with child endangerment, OVI, driving violations and drug violations.
The boys' father, Clayford Wilson, was also in the car and also injected himself with heroin, police said.
“Heroin addicts are particularly desperate,” Vetter said. “(They) would do just about anything to get that fix.”
Vetter said Narcan was used to revive Gordon and Wilson after the crash.
His department has seen several crashes involving overdose incidents along I-74, he said, because it’s a route for people from Indiana and the western Hamilton County suburbs to get into the city, where Vetter and his colleagues suspect they get their fix.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Vetter said. “You feel for these families, but you know there’s no easy answer.
“I wish there was.”
The two boys were not injured in the crash, and are currently staying with their grandmother, police said.
