Latest heroin-related death brings Wayne County's 2016 total to six
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on November 16, 2016 6:29 AM
There were two confirmed and one suspected heroin overdose reported in the city earlier this month, one of which resulted in a death.
Thomas Michael Violette, 26, of 101 Biltmore Drive, died Nov. 3 around 10 a.m. from a suspected heroin overdose, according to a police report.
Violette was found unresponsive on the bathroom floor of 802 W. Grantham St. and pronounced dead.
Maj. Anthony Carmon, head of the Goldsboro Police Department's criminal investigations division, confirmed investigators suspect Violette died after overdosing on the drug.
"The overdose needs to be confirmed but that's what it looks like," Carmon said.
Another victim of a heroin overdose, this one on the morning of Nov. 4, told police he was using heroin "downtown," but refused to give an exact location.
"Overall, (he) did not want to give much information," a report on the incident said.
Carmon confirmed the man did not divulge many details to authorities.
The victim was dropped off at the emergency room entrance to Wayne Memorial Hospital at 4:25 a.m. Friday and was not breathing, according to the report.
Emergency room personnel were able to revive him after his overdose.
Police also took a report of yet another heroin overdose, Nov. 3 at 5:30 p.m.
A High Point man was taken to a parking lot at 615 N. Madison Ave. by a private vehicle and was found unresponsive by authorities around 5:50 p.m., according to the report.
EMS personnel and a Goldsboro police officer gave the man medical treatment at the scene before he was taken to Wayne Memorial Hospital.
Carmon said police have not seen anything to indicate a new or more dangerous batch of heroin has moved into the city to cause the spike in overdoses.
According to data from the North Carolina Chief Medical Examiner's Office, there have been six unintentional heroin-related deaths in Wayne County in 2016.