![Heroin overdose. [Shutterstock - SanchaiRat - 479165098]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/shutterstock_479165098-e1473445373969.jpg "Heroin overdose. [Shutterstock - SanchaiRat - 479165098]")
A child was forced to take the wheel of a car after his father passed out while suffering a heroin overdose in Brooklyn, ultimately crashing into an ambulance.
Eric Roman, a 37-year-old Brooklyn resident, is facing charges of reckless endangerment and acting in a manner injurious to a child over the incident Thursday. His 7-year-old child had to jump onto his lap and grab hold of the steering wheel after Roman fell unconscious from an apparent heroin overdose while driving his Lexus near Coney Island Hospital, reports the New York Post.
The vehicle came to a stop after crashing into the back of an ambulance and an emergency worker administered a dose of the overdose reversal drug Narcan to revive Roman. The 7-year-old did not suffer injuries during the ordeal and Roman is recovering at Coney Island Hospital.
Children in the U.S. are increasingly suffering from similar circumstances due to the widespread abuse of opioids throughout the country.
Police arrested two parents who nearly caused a traffic wreck July 8 after they shot up heroin behind the wheel while driving their 3-year-old in Cincinnati. The mother admitted to police she shot up heroin while she was driving and ran a red light, nearly causing a crash. The father, who confessed to purchasing the drugs, also admitted to using the heroin while inside the car in the presence of the 3-year-old child.
A couple using heroin behind the wheel of their vehicle forced officials to shut down a major highway in Ohio on July 15 after crashing into a semi-truck. In a video taken by a witness, a responding officer is seen performing chest compressions on an unconscious man, while a woman, also unconscious, leans on the back wheel of the car.
“It’s a continuous circle to keep the drug in your system and these people go to any length to get it,” Sergeant Michael Hudepohl with the Cincinnati Police Department, told FOX 19. “They get in their car, they use it, they OD, they crash and then we get involved.”
Officials in the region say they are seeing an increase in heroin-related crashes, which they attribute to the worsening opioid epidemic gripping Ohio and other states. Police say that, in many circumstances, addicts will shoot up wherever they are when they buy their drugs, which many times is in a vehicle.
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