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'Feeling Irritated': Bridgeville Police Post About Continuously Reviving Heroin Addict

BRIDGEVILLE (KDKA) -- A local police chief frustrated with all the opioid overdoses is giving people a "reality check."

All it took was a simple status update on the Bridgeville Police Department Facebook page.

With a cell phone, evidence and creativity, Bridgeville's police chief, Chad King, puts a harsh reality into perspective.

The photo is designed to describe the sequence of events: "Here's what will happen. You get the heroin. You mix it in the spoon. You shoot it. Then ultimately we end up showing up with the overdose kit."

The chief posted it to Facebook after coming back from an overdose call this morning.

"This is the second time within a month that our department has revived the person using Narcan and third time in the past three months that he's been revived," said Chief King.

The chief got the idea for the picture as they were gathering evidence.

"One of the items we recovered on scene was the spoon. We were noticing how dirty the spoon looked. Talking amongst ourselves, how could someone ever cook something up on a spoon like this and inject it into their body," said Chief King.

When the chief came back to the station, he took a picture with actual evidence and uploaded it to Facebook with a strong message.

The responses immediately started pouring in.

The chief wishes he wishes he had a solution and says education is about what opioid addiction really looks like is a step in the right direction.

"When an addict hears that an associate of theirs or somebody they know overdosed on a certain stamp bag of heroin the mindset is 'that's the bag want. They couldn't handle it, but I can and I'm going to get the ultimate high.' They don't look at it like we look at it," Chief King said.

People KDKA spoke with agree there is no easy solution but keeping the conversation going is vital.

"It's sad because I do know a lot of people that are dead from overdoses. I just wish that it could be stopped. I don't know how," said Barb Marx from Finleyville.

"It's widespread it's just absolutely terrible. I've met many many people who have lost children and loved ones and it's just heartbreaking," said Jeff Bickmore of Murrysville.

In the post, the chief listed the information for Gateway Rehab and Chartiers Center. People started adding other resources in their responses.

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