FATAL LINE –
August 17, 2021 – “We collectively urge that anyone who has purchased cocaine, or other narcotics, recently on the North Fork or Shelter Island, or know of a family member or friend that has purchased, safely dispose of these potentially lethal products,” Southold Town PD Chief Martin Flatley said in a statement, suggesting the dangerously adulterated drugs could still be circulating in the region.
The already unacceptably high number of fatal overdoses in the United States surged nearly 30% nationwide to a record 93,331 deaths in 2020, according to a recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report. The rise is due in large part to the growing prevalence of fentanyl and the struggle from COVID-19 lockdowns, isolation, lost jobs and an overall state of fear and unrest. Locally, on Long Island, Suffolk County has a higher rate of overdoses than Nassau — 304 in the former versus 216 in the latter, with both counties seeing an increase over 2019, according to the latest New York State Department of Health data. “Preliminary data has indicated that Suffolk County is experiencing an uptick in overdoses during the pandemic, which is obviously very concerning,” Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini has said. “Whenever there is a fatal overdose, we treat that investigation similarly to a homicide; we take immediate steps to try to determine who sold the drugs to that victim. I’ve said many times before that we’re not going to arrest ourselves out of the drug epidemic, but law enforcement will continue to be vigilant and to arrest and prosecute drug dealers who are peddling this poison in our communities.”
Among the recent local victims was Swainson Brown, a 40-year-old chef at Shelter Island’s Pridwin Hotel who was found dead at his home on the night of August 13. Brown was one of four people to die on Friday, including one in Greenport, another in East Marion and a third in Southold. Social media chatter suggests a number of the victims worked in the local restaurant industry.
