[Editor’s note: New information released to FOX 8 News indicates one of the five people involved was a graduate of Baldwin Wallace University.]
BEREA, Ohio (WJW) — Four Baldwin Wallace University students and one graduate were treated for “apparent drug overdoses” on Sunday, university officials confirmed to FOX 8 News.
“We think our friends are overdosing right now. Three of them passed out and they’re purple,” one caller is heard telling a 911 dispatcher, who then instructed her and others on performing CPR.
It happened at an off-campus house, according to a statement from a university spokesperson.
Five city police officers responded to the home in the 300 block of University Street just before 10 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16, according to a police report.
They started by giving the five victims naloxone and administering CPR. They then interviewed everyone at the house.
Witnesses later told police it was a house party, and that the five men “started to pass out one after another,” reads the report. One resident found a white residue on a table inside a room where all five men had been.
A search of the home turned up marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia.
EMS workers transported the five victims to a hospital. Three of them were treated and released. Two others are still hospitalized in stable condition, the university spokesperson said Monday.
“We’re thankful they received excellent medical care,” reads the university’s statement.
One of the victims later called police officers from the hospital and told them where to find the drugs the men took. During a search of the victim’s car parked at the house, a baggie containing a white substance was found in the man’s wallet, along with a blue-and-white pill. The report lists it as cocaine.
Berea Police Department is now investigating the incident. The university is also opening a student code of conduct case. University counselors have also scheduled a meeting with all students who were at the “off-campus house event.”
“Recognizing that the misuse of alcohol and other drugs poses a risk to health and safety, BW has a legacy of promoting healthy behaviors related to alcohol and other drugs,” reads the statement. “The university’s approach emphasizes education to transform behaviors toward healthy decision-making. As a result, the university works every year to provide education and prevention programming.”
The university offers 24-hour, confidential health counseling services for students which can address concerns on alcohol or drug use, according to the statement.
The university also offers medical amnesty to students who seek help for drug or alcohol use for themselves or others, according to the university’s student handbook. In medical amnesty, students “receive substance education and are exempted from violations related to possession and use of alcohol and other drugs, but MA does not exempt response to other violations of the code.”
