Photo of couple’s overdose in car with boy, 4, published by police

POLICE in Ohio took the drastic step of posting pictures online of a couple apparently overdosing with a child in their car, to highlight the country’s growing heroin and opioid epidemic.

Rhonda Pasek, 50, and James Acord, 47, were charged with endangering children after being found by police in the city of East Liverpool. An officer ap- proached Acord’s car after seeing it weaving before drifting to a stop in the road.

The police said they made the images public via Facebook “to show the other side of this horrible drug”.

The boy, Pasek’s four-year-old grandson, was taken into custody by chil- dren’s services. “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,” the police statement on Facebook said.

Brian Allen, the county’s safety director, said: “That picture is the truth of what my officers deal with every single day.” Pasek was being held on a child endangerment charge and Acord pleaded guilty to child endangerment and operating a vehicle while intoxicated and was sentenced to 360 days in jail.

Heroin and opioid addiction kills 23 people a week in Ohio. Across the US, heroin use is at a 20 year high, and heroin deaths have increased five-fold since 2000.