Despite the criticism the post has gotten, including from some commentators who have wondered why the child’s identity wasn’t obscured in the original photos at least, the East Liverpool police department appears to have stuck to their guns.
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Police from East Liverpool posted photos of the couple, with a young child in the back seat, on its Facebook page to show the dangers of heroin.
An officer first noticed a vehicle moving erratically, then coming to a stop. According to a police affidavit, the driver, Acord, said he was taking Pasek to the hospital.
The officer got out of his auto to check on the vehicle, he said.
When Thompson approached the vehicle, he noticed that the driver, Acord, appeared intoxicated, with his head bobbing back and forth and his speech nearly unintelligible.
Kevin Thompson was the police officer who dealt with the incident. The 4-year-old is in the county’s protective custody program. The woman, who was already unconscious, was turning blue.
“We feel it necessary to show the other side of this frightful drug”, said the City of East Liverpool, Ohio, on its official Facebook page.
Thursday, Acord and Pasek were in court. But given the scourge of heroin use in the area, they felt sensitivity was secondary to raising awareness.
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”.
Eventually, emergency medical services personnel arrived and were able to revive both with Narcan, a medication commonly used to reverse the worst effects of an opioid overdose and prevent death. Many agreed that the drug problem is serious.
“Stop sharing this! If this is meant to help these people or anyone else, it will not”.
On Thursday, Pasek was charged with endangering children, public intoxication and not wearing a seatbelt. “These two strung out junkies are a shameless, disrespectful representation of parenthood and should NEVER be allowed to see this child EVER AGAIN!”
Acord pleaded no contest and was sentenced to serve 360 days behind bars and fined $475 for OVI and endangering children.
She pleaded not guilty and was ordered held on $150,000 bond pending her next court appearance scheduled for September 15.
In Ohio, which has been among the states hardest hit by the opioid scourge, there were 3,000 unintentional drug overdoses past year, at an average of eight per day.
East Liverpool is located on Ohio’s state line just northwest of Pittsburgh. Fentanyl, heroin, and prescription opioids accounted for most of the deaths, according to the department’s “2015 Ohio Drug Overdose Data At A Glance” fact sheet.
Heroin isn’t the only culprit, either.
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Pasek also has a history of arrests and substance abuse, including a drug possession charge in 2011.
