Community Corner

Drug Overdoses Shut Down Concert at Quassy, Police Say

What started out as a relatively quiet concert all changed at around 10:30 p.m. Saturday, when at least four people dropped to the ground at Quassy Amusement Park, Middlebury's Acting Chief Richard Wildman said.

"About 1,200 young people showed up at the concert at the park which started at 6 p.m. and at about 10:30 p.m., it was like a light switch went off," Wildman said via a press release. "Four people dropped from drug overdoses almost all at the same time. Police believe the drug is the new 2CP, a powerful hallucinogenic, which overheats the body and takes effect three to five hours after using it."


'Breathless and Pulseless'

"We did CPR on a couple of them," Wildman told Patch at the scene. "One had full blown CPR with breaths and an electric defibrillator. We had seizures, people were unconscious."

He was referring to a 17 or 18-year old male who he said was breathless and pulseless. 

Wildman said he just got off the phone with hospital personnel.

"Everybody's alive," he said. "That's all I care about."

Officer Edward Demers said people were allegedly under the influence of ketamine and 2CP.

Seven people were treated and four are still currently at the hospital — two at Saint Mary’s Hospital and two at Waterbury Hospital, Wildman said. The event was put on by a company called Tight Crew out of Rhode Island, he said.

Thirty officers were on the scene from the Woodbury, Watertown, Waterbury and Naugatuck Police Departments, as well as Troop A and Troop L, Wildman said.

"They came for reports of mass casualty," he said.

The Naugatuck Police Department and the state police each brought in K9s, he said. 

"We just swept the park again," Wildman said. "We used two cadaver dogs to make sure we didn't miss anyone." 

He said that as of 12:12 a.m., all was quiet and secure.

"The crowd was orderly after the concert was shut down and left without any incidents," he said.

One Arrest Made

Kyle Stoddard, 30, of New Milford, was arrested for interfering with a police officer, Wildman said, adding that the arrest occurred while police were trying to treat the concertgoers who were reportedly overdosing.


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