RED BANK – Two men died and three were hospitalized after alleged drug overdoses in a Red Bank home Sunday.
Red Bank Police have not released the names of victims and the investigation is ongoing.
Alfredo Garcia was one of the victims who died that day, his uncle Eliseo Garcia told The Two River Times Wednesday at the home on Bank Street. Speaking in Spanish, Garcia said Alfredo and the other men got together Saturday evening and started drinking. Unbeknownst to Eliseo, drug use was also in the mix. He blames the consumption of alcohol and potent drugs for taking his nephew’s life.
Eliseo also said that he and Alfredo’s two children were home that evening but were away in their rooms and remained unharmed.
Eliseo said he does not drink alcohol and did not partake in any of the evening’s activities.
Police Chief Darren McConnell told local news website RedBankGreen.com that police were dispatched to the home at about 12:30 a.m. after receiving a call “from a concerned person,” requesting police to check on those inside the home at 85 Bank St. The police found the five men unresponsive, two without a pulse, according to the report. They administered Narcan, used to treat narcotic overdoses in emergency situations, to all five victims. CPR was also performed on two of them, but only one survived, according to RedBankGreen.
Eliseo said his nephew Alfredo was the man who did not survive CPR attempts from first aid members. Even as they pressed down on his chest, Eliseo did not believe Alfredo would die. He was a healthy young man and was not sick, he said.
Earlier in the evening, Eliseo recalled hearing someone fall in the hallway of the gray, single-story home, near Eliseo’s room and Alfredo’s two children’s rooms. Eliseo said he heard a strange snoring sound and thought someone must have been sleeping outside the room. He believes now it must have been Alfredo having difficulty breathing, he said.
Police and first aid continued working at the home until 4 a.m., Eliseo said. The three surviving men were transported to the hospital, he said.
McConnell did not respond to several requests for information by The Two River Times.
