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Powerful batch of heroin blamed for 3 deaths, multiple overdoses in Muncie

Posted at 10:10 PM, Feb 07, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-08 00:14:32-05

MUNCIE, Ind. -- A powerful batch of heroin is being blamed for over a dozen overdoses in Muncie over the weekend.

Muncie Police Chief Joe Winkle said the department responded to 16 calls for overdoses between 2 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Monday – three of those were fatal.

Workers at the Delaware County Emergency Response Center say they're used to taking multiple calls in a day. 

Gene Ferris is a shift supervisor in the dispatch center. He said dispatchers take an average of 3 calls for overdoses each day - so 16 calls in three days is a huge jump for them. And those numbers could be higher than they think.  

"Those were ones that were classified as overdoses. We could have had calls that come in as an unconscious that might have been an overdose that we didn't even know about," said Rhodes. 

Klif Rhodes was working at the dispatch center over the weekend.  He said some of those calls involved cases where multiple people had overdosed.

He also said that the most dangerous thing you can do is to try to hide the truth when calling 911. 

Not being upfront about what happened, could cause a dangerous and deadly delay.

"Just be up front with us, be honest, tell us what's happening," said Rhodes. "Let us take care of you."