Toxic batch of K2 linked to more overdoses in Brooklyn neighborhood
BROWNSVILLE, Brooklyn (WABC) -- The toxic batch of K2 that caused dozens of overdoses this past weekend in Brooklyn appears to be linked to more overdoses earlier in the week.
Thursday on Ralph Avenue in Brownsville, the call came in for three overdoses due to the synthetic marijuana known as K2.
Unfortunately, people who live in the neighborhood are not surprised - there were five other overdoses on Monday.
"You know, they have no fear, and it's something to be really afraid of," said Brownsville resident Nicole Guide.
Police now say there have been nearly one hundred overdoses since the weekend - the common thread, at least in Brooklyn - the homeless shelters, and two particularly dangerous strains of K2, one of them traced to fatalities in Japan. Police are trying to narrow down which of those has made its way here.
"We have not had any fatal, but again, with this K2, this is an extremely toxic...you literally do not know what you are putting in your body," says NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea.
On Sunday evening, at Broadway and Myrtle Avenue in Bed-Stuy, more than two dozen were treated for overdoses. Residents who have seen it up close are fearing it is not a question if someone will die, it is a question of when.
"Every day, every night, whatever in come they've got, someone is supplying them with that stuff, says Brownsville resident Edie Kennedy.
So far police say they have made 36 arrests in at least five locations. That number has been growing.
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