Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Boy suspected in overdoses of Colville teens

Carla K. Johnson Staff writer

Colville police arrested a 16-year-old boy Wednesday morning in connection with an impromptu pill party in Colville’s City Park.

Ten teenagers who took prescription pills in the park Monday ended up in the hospital on respirators.

Eight of the teenagers have been discharged from the hospital. Two remain at Deaconess Medical Center, one in critical condition and one in serious condition. The teenager in critical condition remains on a respirator.

Colville Police Chief Damond Meshishnek would not say whether the boy who was arrested was among the teenagers, ages 14 to 17, who went to the hospital.

The boy was arrested on a felony charge of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance and taken to Martin Hall, a juvenile lock-up facility in Medical Lake, Meshishnek said.

The teenagers took a prescription drug called baclofen, a potent muscle relaxant that slows nerve impulses from the spinal cord. It’s used legitimately by people with multiple sclerosis or spinal injuries.

Seven boys and three girls took the drug, apparently trying to get high. Some teenagers in the park that night refused the pills.

The pills apparently belonged to Colville resident Marvin Heater, a 29-year-old quadriplegic. Heater said Tuesday through his attorney, Steve Graham, that the pills were stolen from his home.

Heater, 29, takes eight of the pills daily to control muscle spasticity, Graham said. Heater believes three weeks’ worth of the medicine was taken from his home by an unrelated teenage boy who is a frequent visitor.

The incident tapped the resources of two hospitals, four medical helicopters and one ambulance. It was like a disaster exercise for Mount Carmel Hospital in Colville, said hospital CEO Gordon McLean. The Colville hospital treated the teenagers before transferring them to the Spokane hospital.