Bad weekend of drug deaths

7 overdoses suspected in Milwaukee County

Nine autopsies were scheduled to be performed by the Milwaukee County medical examiner’s office Monday, including eight for probable weekend drug overdose deaths.

One suspected OD was a referral from Racine County, but the others revealed chains of events that have become all too familiar to investigators at the office:

About 4 a.m. Sunday, a 56-year-old man with a history of cocaine use is found unresponsive on a friend’s sofa in the 1300 block of East Locust Street.

Unable to awaken the man, the friend calls 911.

By the time paramedics arrive, Milwaukee firefighters have moved him to the floor and started CPR, initiating a feverish attempt to save the man’s life.

His shirt is cut away and defibrillator pads are placed on his chest. Saline is administered, as well as the stimulant epinephrine in an effort to jump-start the man’s silent heart.

A breathing tube is inserted into his airway and the CPR continues for 30 minutes before the man is declared dead at 4:50 a.m.

His death is among 100 with pending toxicology tests that more than likely will confirm a fatal overdose involving legally prescribed drugs or illicit drugs such as fentanyl, heroin and cocaine, according to medical examiner’s officials.

“More cocaine is being mixed with opiates,” said Karen Domagalski, operations manager at the medical examiner’s office.

“We don’t know whether it’s mixed in and unknown to the victim or mixed in intentionally to increase the potency of the two,” Domagalski said.

According to Domagalski, 254 fatal overdoses have been confirmed in Milwaukee County in 2018, with a projected total for the year of 393. If accurate, the number would mark the first decrease in drug overdose deaths since a steady rise seen since 2013, when 220 such

deaths were confirmed.

In 2017, 401 people died from drug overdoses, the first time fatal overdoses surpassed 400 since the office began tracking the deaths in 2002.

That year, 109 fatal drug overdoses were confirmed, Domagalski said.

The suspected OD deaths reported to the office this weekend began Friday evening when a 25-year-old man was found unresponsive by his parents at their home in Cudahy.

That was followed by the deaths of the man on East Locust Street along with those of:

❚ A 49-year-old man Saturday at the Rodeway Inn, 4400 S. 27th St.

❚ A 27-year-old man found by his parents Sunday afternoon in the 5200 block of West Forest Home Avenue.

❚ A 47-year-old man found Sunday afternoon by his wife in a bedroom at a home in the 5100 block of North 62nd Street.

❚ A 56-year-old man found Sunday evening after collapsing on the porch of a rooming house in the 3100 block of North 20th Street.

❚ A 56-year-old man found on a sofa by his son Monday morning in the 10600 block of West Hampton Avenue.

Family members of the man who died on East Locust Street had already begun to arrive by the time a medical examiner’s investigator showed up at the home, where the victim lay covered by a yellow sheet.

The defibrillator pads were still attached to his chest, he was cool to the touch and, though rigor had not yet set in, he was already turning purple, according to a medical examiner’s report.

“No external trauma was observed to the decedent,” the investigator wrote.

“A toe tag was placed on the decedent’s great toe and the body bag was locked with body bag lock # 160738.”