King Street Drug Overdose Leads to Heroin Arrest

A Wilmington man was arrested after a woman suffered a drug overdose outside of a King Street home on Tuesday afternoon.

Police Lt. Joe Desmond said a call came in at 3:33 p.m. on Tuesday from 29A King Street for a suspected overdose. When officers arrived they found a young female on the ground in front of the house who was, according to Desmond, responsive but “not doing well.”

The took over the scene and treated the woman until her breathing improved and she could be transported to a local hospital.

In an effort to find out what had caused the woman to collapse on the property, officers entered the home and found heroin, pills and other drug paraphernalia inside.

Joshua Kivlehan, 18, of 29A King Street, was arrested at the scene and charged with possession of Class A drugs for allegedly having heroin at the home.

The female was only given a civil citation because there was a small amount of marijuana in her vehicle. According to Desmond, even though the woman likely overdosed on heroin, there is no way of charging her for possession because the drug was in her system.

“The difficulty is that we know she took it, but she was outside of the house and not with the drugs. You really can’t charge her because you cannot be in possession of drugs when it’s inside your body,” said Desmond. “It’s inside her at that point, so it comes down to a matter of how do you prove it? That’s just the way the law is, and maybe there is a flaw in the law."

Desmond said he’s seen multiple overdoses during his shifts in the last two months, including a pair that came during the same call.

“It’s something that is a constant issue we deal with,” said Desmond. “It’s sad because in most cases it’s young people. They get hooked at a young age and it’s a difficult drug to kick.”