Emergency crews, volunteers try to make sense of ODs

NEW HAVEN — Things seemed to have returned to status quo, more or less, on the city Green Saturday, following the massive K2 overdoses that plagued the city for several days.

Emergency personnel were pushed to their limits during a 72-hour period, as they responded to more than 100 overdoses since Tuesday night.

Felix Ayala Melendez, 37, and John Parker, 53, both of New Haven, have been arrested in connection with the overdoses.

A third man, who has not been publicly identified but believed to be a distributor of the bad batch of K2, has also been arrested on a federal search warrant and is being held on federal drug charges.

Police Chief Anthony Campbell said Saturday there have also been some reported heroin overdoses, as those individuals that were looking for K2 weren’t able to get it, so they resorted back to the drug that was easier to get.

Since 12 a.m. Saturday, City Office of Emergency Management Director Rick Fontana said there have been six K2 overdoses — four of which happened around the Green — noting that these synthetic cannabinoid overdoses may not be the same K2 from earlier in the week.

“We’re really back to what we call ‘normalcy,’ ” Fontana said.

However, “normalcy” doesn’t mean emergency crews stop responding to the Green. Fontana said emergency personnel respond to around 2,000 reported overdoses on the Green every year, but not all of them “pan out.”

A Torrington resident named Rob said Saturday as he was coming out the library, he saw a man, unresponsive, lying on his side. Rob said he started asking if anyone had called for an ambulance, but the man’s friend said he hadn’t.

“I said to (the friend), ‘You need to call an ambulance,’ ” Rob said. “But he just said, ‘Everything’s all good.’ ”

Rob said the friend scooped the man off the sidewalk, and they both started walking away.

A man who identified himself only as Danny said he’s very familiar with the people who frequent the Green, as he walks through it every day with his dog on his way to a nearby methadone clinic. Danny said he understands addiction, having become addicted to pain killers after a car accident a few years ago, but he can’t seem to make sense of the past few days.

“I just don’t get it. I don’t get why you would want to let yourself go that far. I’m an addict, and I knew I had to go get help. You’re not going to get better unless you want to,” he said.

The overdoses have drawn international attention, as city, state and federal officials, and as well as community leaders, attempt to address the issues that are part of a national drug addiction problem.

In the basement of the Trinity Episcopal Church on the Green, 25 people sat around a round table, brainstorming ideas on how to help members of the community who struggle with addiction.

The Rev. Luk De Volder said this past week highlighted the fact that Trinity is, often times, on the frontline of these situations.

Pastors Marc and Ana Reyes, of the Good Shepherd Ministries in West Haven, also stood on the Green, talking to passersby and handing out pamphlets.

Along with inviting people to their church and offering a message of hope, the Reyeses said they are also attempting to help in other, nonspiritual ways. Ana Reyes said around 11 a.m., she was trying to convince a man to seek treatment, after the man admitted he needs help.

“We’re just trying to reach out,” Ana Reyes said. “That’s what we’re called to do.”

Things seem to have returned to status quo, more or less, on the New Haven Green Saturday, following the massive K2 overdoses that plagued the city for several days.