FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — It was supposed to be a carefree Spring Break trip to South Florida for a group of college students, including cadets from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
The days of partying led to a mass overdosing where six people were hospitalized after being exposed to the lethal synthetic opioid fentanyl, disguised in cocaine four of the Spring Breakers ingested. Another two of the group were exposed by attempting to resuscitate those who passed out.
A panicked call to 911 shows the moment the vacation turned into a nightmare for the students — commotion and yelling in the background, uncertainty of the address for the Wilton Manors rental home and the dire circumstance of people passed out after using the cocaine.
Four West Point cadets, one of whom is an Army football player, were hospitalized in the incident.
“Yo, get him on the couch. Get him on the couch, bro,” a man shouted in a recording of the 911 call.
“Tell me exactly what happened,” the dispatcher said.
“We took some coke and we’re not getting [inaudible] responses right now,” the caller responded.
The dispatcher pressed for more information.
“People are passing out,” the caller said. “Three people passed out.”
“Three people are passing out?” the dispatcher asked.
“Yeah, it’s because they drank a lot. Like, a lot, a lot,” he said.
The caller said the students who passed out had been drinking “an enormous amount.”
In the moment of desperation, after the dispatcher asked the caller to stay on the line, it disconnected. A call back only reached a voicemail.
When dispatchers reached the caller again, he struggled to say where they were.
“I’m sorry. This is terrible. I don’t even know where I’m at right now,” he said.
He again explained what led to the desperate situation unfolding in front of him.
“They did some coke, and they’ve been drinking heavily for the last couple days,” he said.
Someone cried in the background as the caller attempted to reassure the person who was panicking.
“I know, bro. We good, we good,” he said, attempting to console the friend who let out inaudible words through tears.
The three people were still unresponsive, the caller said.
“Hold it together. Hold it to- f------ -gether,” someone in the background yelled.
In the days since the Spring Breakers overdosed, four other men were hospitalized Sunday in another fentanyl incident in the Fort Lauderdale area.
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