Seattle Fire medics rushed to save a 26-year-old woman who stopped breathing in a reported drug overdose Thursday night in a parking lot at the base of Capitol Hill along Lakeview Blvd E.
Emergency crews were called to the 1000-block of Belmont Ave E just before 8 PM and took over CPR on the woman inside a car parked in the lot who was unconscious and not breathing but had a pulse, according to Seattle Fire radio dispatches.
Photographer Tim Durkan said that medics were able to revive the woman and shared this image and report from the scene.
She is extremely fortunate anyone noticed and thought to call for emergency services. People walk down the street gazing at their phones or distracted in conversation. Three times in recent years I have called for aid for someone who appeared to be in overdose or some other medical emergency as various hipsters walked past and didn’t even look at the person who was down.
How exactly are we expected to tell the difference between someone who is sleeping in a car, doorway or on the sidewalk and someone who has OD’d… It’s sad, but unless you either are very familiar with the symptoms, it’s very obvious (someone convulsing or gasping or falling down right in front of you) most of us could probably walk right past an unconscious or even dead person without knowing it..
Agreed. If I called for every person passed out on the street or a doorway I would never get to work. It has been happening since I’ve lived here (21 years). This problem pre-dates smartphones and hipsters although it’s likely worse now.