FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — Last year, Fort Wayne saw a record in drug overdoses. On average, someone in Fort Wayne died from a drug overdose every other day.
It’s not a good sign that this year there are 44 confirmed overdose drug deaths and 46 toxicology reports pending, says Capt. Kevin Hunter, who oversees the Fort Wayne Police Department’s HART team in Fort Wayne.
Last year, the record was set at 173 drug overdose deaths.
However, during a sit down interview with WANE 15, Hunter, HART team officer Jeremy Ormiston and Darcy Robins, a social worker with the HART team, took some credit for the lower number of non-fatal overdoses. This year, the non fatals were at 390 at the end of May compared to 600 at the same time last year.
Since October 2019 when HART ( Hope and Recovery Team) got started with a two-officer team, it’s been in contact with 821 people who experienced overdose. Last year, they contacted 371 individuals. This year, that number was 137 at the end of May.