A video of a woman overdosing on heroin and being saved by police officers has garnered attention online. Watch video
WEST DEPTFORD TWP. -- A video of a woman lying lifeless in the street as passersby, police and EMS workers attempt to revive her from a heroin overdose has garnered dozens of comments and opinions.
KellyMae Demore, 25, overdosed in a car on her way from Camden to Paulsboro Sunday. Her brother pulled the car over on Crown Point Road in West Deptford after his sister lost consciousness. He tried giving rescue breaths as an unidentified woman performed CPR until police arrived and administered Narcan -- an opiate antidote.
Demore and her mother have pleaded on social media that the video, which was posted to YouTube and received more than 55,000 views by Wednesday afternoon, be taken down and that people refrain from sharing it. However, the video's existence has sparked a debate regarding the usefulness of a visual representation of the heroin epidemic that has gripped the United States in recent years.
Here's what NJ.com readers had to say about it:
Kelmae Demore and her mother should take into account there probably wouldn't be a video if she didn't survive. I hope that this will be a wakeup call for all involved with the addiction to heroin and other drugs.
I'll never understand how someone could lay there dying and peoples first reaction is to sit there and film it .. Sad
@Carrotflowers It's not pretty, is it? MAYBE it might get through someone's head. I don't have an issue with a police officer, who so many degrade today, doing this.
Great... An addicts life was saved... so in self induced situations like this, since so many other addicts say they have no other choice but to do drugs (as many of us seem to choose not to do drugs??, I guess I get that angle), she should be charged with cost of saving her life. It's simple, you do heroine, you may overdose. If you can afford to buy it, you can afford to pay for your life. If it's so precious, then there should be no problem. If your loved ones life means so much, then take care of the cost of keeping them alive and use this moment as an intervention reason.
PS. We all have choices!
As a rule, videos of EMS working on people should not be shared on social media.
Rebecca Forand may be reached at rforand@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @RebeccaForand. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.