Monday evening, the NYPD Brooklyn North Twitter account released a video announcing that a Mobile Police Headquarters had been stationed at the Myrtle Broadway intersection in Bushwick. The Mobile HQ will come with 24/7 police presence and, “intense police action.” The joint initiative by the 83rd and 81st precincts is in response to at least 16 individuals being hospitalized over the weekend due to apparent K2 overdoses. According to police, the increased presence is meant to fix the narcotics problem at the intersection.
Saturday, the NYPD received several calls reporting overdose symptoms at the Myrtle Broadway intersection on the border of Bushwick and Bed-Stuy. Investigation into the calls resulted in the hospitalization of 16 individuals, all with non-life-threatening symptoms. Police blame the overdoses on a bad batch of the synthetic drug, K2.
In the video, Commanding Officer of the 81st Precinct, Deputy Inspector Winston M. Faison says the NYPD is, “going to have intense police action on [Myrtle and Broadway]. We are going to have a temporary HQ fixed here- manned with a cop, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.” The commanding officer also stated that Neighborhood Coordination Officers (NCOs) from the 83rd and 81st precinct would be, “visiting these Bodegas and Smoke Shops to make sure they are working within the guidelines [of the NYPD].” The increased presence is aimed at, “fixing the problem with narcotics,” at the intersection.
Readers may remember that in 2016, we reported on a similar mass overdose at the same intersection. An event that went viral and was dubbed by many as a, Zombie Apocalypse. The event resulted in 33 individuals hospitalized after people witnessed victims collapsing on sidewalks, breathing heavily and vomiting. This event was also blamed on a ‘bad batch’ of the synthetic drug K2.
Bushwick Daily has reached out to the NYPD for further comment and will update the article as needed.
This is a developing story; check back later for further details.
Full NYPD Video with Transcript:
Patrol Borough Brooklyn North cops respond to illegal sale of K2 #brooklynny pic.twitter.com/X1Zo8AOwiO
— NYPDBrooklynNorth (@NYPDBklynNorth) May 22, 2018
Deputy Inspector Winston M. Faison Commanding Officer of 81st Precinct:
“On Saturday may 19th, we received several calls of individuals overdosing over synthetic marijuana or what we call K2 on the corner of Myrtle and Broadway. In total we had 16 addicts who were taken to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. In order to fix this problem with narcotics on Myrtle and Broadway, we are going to have intense police action here. We are going to have a temporary HQ fixed here manned with a cop 24 hours a day 7 days a week.”
“We are going to be working in conjunction with the 83rd precinct – they’re going to put police presence on one side of Myrtle and Broadway and the 81st precinct is going to have police presence on the other side [of Myrtle and Broadway].”
“I’m going to have my neighborhood coordination officers here visiting these bodegas and smoke shops to make sure they are working within the guidelines.”
“Together the NYPD as an agency in the community, together we will fix this problem on this corner.”
Deputy Inspector Sergio Centa Commanding Officer of 83rd Precinct:
83rd Our NCO’s are also working together with our community partners helping to irradicate this from our streets. This is a shared responsibility between the community and the police.
“Anybody [with] any sources of information that will assist with the investigation please dial 1-800-577-tips.”