New footage of adults overdosing in public is going viral after a pair in Memphis were recorded in grisly condition after snorting heroin in a Walgreens restroom, police said.
In one Facebook Live video posted by Courtland Garner on Oct. 3, a man and a woman are apparently unresponsive and in contorted positions a few yards apart on a busy sidewalk at around 3:30 p.m.
In the foreground, a woman collapsed with her legs folded at her sides and with her face against the curb appears to be unable to lift her head. In the background a man is motionless as he lies arched in a backbend over a metal bench.
Throughout the entirety of Garner’s 8-minute 25-second video gawkers circle the pair and whip out their phones and look for good camera angles, but nobody appears to intervene on the users’ behalf. You can hear people laughing while Garner turns the camera towards himself and says “They on that good gas, man!”
By Wednesday morning nearly 1 million people had viewed Garner’s video. It was shared over 15,000 times and the comments quickly climbed to over 23,000.
Comments ranged from amusement to horror.
“This is truly sad…these people could be dying and need immediate medical attention, and these people are making fun of them? This world is totally screwed up!!!!” commented Gerald McKenzie.
Boonie Callaway remarked: “Our world has become obsessed with filming and exploiting people to social media.”
Garner defended his work saying that the couple could help themselves and the scene was a spectacle that would deter drug use.
“What they were doing was children things. It was a spectacle. It made me laugh. They can help themselves,” Garner said. “I know for a fact all the kids are on social media, and when kids see that video, you know what they are going to say? I don’t want to look stupid like that — I don’t want to do those drugs.”
Someone who drove by and observed the scene called 911. Memphis Fire were able to revive the husband and wife.
Police identified the woman as Carla Hiers, and found that she had a warrant out for her arrest and later took her into custody.
Karen Morgan with Turning Point Recovery Memphis and its suburbs are all seeing an uptick in heroin overdoses, she told WREG-Memphis.
“People tend to think they’ve done it to themselves. Well no they haven’t. Their brains have been changed by the use of the chemicals,” she said.
