Heat, drugs are taking a toll, police chief says
CALEXICO — This city’s police chief reported to the City Council Wednesday that three people here died from heat-related causes since Aug. 23.
“Actually these deaths are all people that have homes, so they’re not the homeless,” Calexico Police Department Chief Gonzalo Gerardo said.
One of the deaths was on Aug. 27. A 911 operator received a call about 4:05 p.m. requesting medical aid for an elderly man found unconscious in his car at a home in the 800 block of Sheridan Street, county scanner traffic stated.
Calexico firefighters arrived about 4:20 p.m. and declared the man dead at the scene.
Gerardo said there have been a lot of heat-related deaths in the city recently. He raised this point while
he and Calexico Fire Department Chief Diego Favila gave a COVID-19 update to the council.
As the National Weather Service has called for continued extreme temperature through the Labor Day Weekend, Gerardo said he wanted to remind the community to
drink plenty of water, stay hydrated and try to stay in cool places.
The police chief added his department has also noticed an increase in drug- related deaths in Calexico. There were two such deaths between Aug. 23 and Wednesday, he said.
He said one of those was a 25-year-old man found dead Aug. 25 on Sherman Street. The others occurred during the early morning hours of Aug. 31, when a 21-year-old person was found dead from an overdose -- also on Sherman Street.
“To me, it was something that was alarming,” the chief said of these deaths. “And I spoke to my counterparts in other cities, and they’ve also seen an increase in overdoses.”
In addition to their inherent risk, many times are laced with other substances that can make them even more dangerous, Gerardo said. He cited the example of “Xannie bars,” which are Xanax-laced brownies or cookies.
“You don’t know what you’re getting,” he said. “They might be putting fentanyl or OxyContin in there, or a higher dose. You’re not getting it from a pharmacy, so you don’t know what dose you’re getting, so you might be getting something that’s a little stronger and if you mix it with alcohol, it could be deadly.”
“I don’t know if it’s because of COVID or it’s just a bad batch of drugs out there,” he said. “So please be careful.”
Since the COVID pandemic began, CPD and other agencies in the county have seen increased calls for service for mental health issues,
Gerardo said.
He said he, County Executive Officer Tony Rouhotas Jr. and Sheriff Raymond Loera have been meeting to discuss ways local agencies can address calls for mental health more effectively.
“Because it’s taking a lot of time,” Gerardo said.
Law enforcement officers often have to get patients medically cleared before the patient can be checked into Behavioral Health.
“It’s just overwhelming,” Gerardo said. “I think this is all a cause of COVID. People aren’t going out there and exercising like they used to. They’re not going out. So, if they have a mental health problem, they are having a crisis at the time.”
All CPD officers this month will be taking an eight- hour course on crisis intervention and de- escalation.
“It’s state mandated, and it’s something that we need to take because of everything that is going on around the world and in the nation,” Gerardo said.