Ohio police chief fatally overdosed on drugs taken from evidence room, investigators say
An Ohio police chief died from an accidental fentanyl overdose after the drugs were removed from his department’s evidence room, officials said Wednesday.
Kirkersville Police Chief James Hughes Jr. was found unresponsive in his home May 25 and pronounced dead shortly after, the Newark Advocate reported. An autopsy revealed he died from “acute intoxication by fentanyl.”
Reynoldsburg Police Department Lt. Ron Wright, whose department is still investigating, told the newspaper that packaging was discovered “that indicated that he was taking controlled substances from” the evidence room.
According to the coroner’s office, a plastic sandwich bag found where Hughes died tested positive for cocaine. A syringe was also determined to be positive for fentanyl, the Newark Advocate reported.
James Hughes, 35, had only been on the job a few months before his death. (GoFundMe)
Hughes, who was 35 years old, had only been on the job for a few months before he died.
“He was hired in March and wasn’t here that long, but he kept me informed [about] what was going on,” Kirkersville Mayor Terry Ashcraft told the Newark Advocate after Hughes’ death. “A lot of stuff goes on in this town, and he’d come and done his job and never had a complaint on him.”
Hughes left behind a wife and three young children. A GoFundMe account was set up to help the family, and the Kirkersville Village Council provided $1,500 to help cover funeral expenses.
Wright said he plans to contact the state’s attorney general’s office once the investigation is completed so the state can look into the Kirkersville Police Department’s practices, especially when it comes to the evidence room.
He also said this tragedy is proof that the heroin epidemic can affect anyone.
“It’s happening at all different levels and walks of life,” he told the newspaper.
A new police chief has not yet been named.
Kirkersville is less than 30 miles east of Columbus.
Filed under: General Problems
How does a cop with a coke and fentenyl habit get hired here in Ohio or anywhere to begin with? Maybe they need to drug test these new hires more than what they are. Imo
Roni; that’s a good question. I meandered around last nite b/c I couldn’t sleep, & it sounds like calling this guy the “Chief” is absurd; he was hired part-time at $14/hour. It’s a really really small town. Moreover, he had a record of getting arrested for assaulting a guy at a drive-thru while intoxicated & using “racial slurs.” So how this clown got hired for anything police-wise is an excellent question; but it sounds as if this is a majorly Mickey Mouse “force.”
I’m just astonished they didn’t drag prescription drugs into the story, either in pix or print…unique restraint these days.
Im sorry for the guy but it shows ( c’mon we arent stupid) that many police, and lots more higher up are using the confiscated drugs yet pretend to be the anti drug person!h
“…this tragedy is proof that the heroin epidemic can affect anyone.”
Oh bull…..er, good grief. All it proves is that –I’m sorry, but there’s no other word– morons will be morons & addicts will be addicts. I somehow doubt this guy never tried another drug in his life or was a teetotaller & non-smoker, & just up out of the blue decided to steal crap from evidence & snort some illegal fentanyl for a lark (or whatever you do with it).
You could put me –condemned near universally for being an “addict” since I’m a chronic pain patient– next to a pile of naked fentanyl for the next 50 years & I wouldn’t touch the damned stuff. By now even 10 year olds probably know how potent the stuff is; the only people crazy enough to dabble in it are those whose only goal, over everything, is to get high.
If I sound unsympathetic to those he left behind, well, I suppose I am. But I’m sick of people pointing to real addicts & people who do moronic things as “proof” that legit CPPs must be forced into Hell on Earth. I’m sorry for his family, but his idiocy is NOT OUR FAULT.
Was this recreational use by the policeman?if so,karma is a real bitch,yeah?the sufferers now are the family he left behind.thanks for fucking things up for bona fide pain victims,officer.his action makes it appear as if “take pain meds and instant death”guaranteed it was a street mix drug.