Ithaca, N.Y. – The man found lying unconscious on the first floor of Dewitt Mall on Monday was overdosing on heroin, according to Jamie Williamson, media relations officer for the Ithaca Police Department.
The name of the man has not been released, and the severity of his condition is currently unknown. Williamson would not say if the overdose was fatal. He did say, however, that there is no criminal investigation into the incident.
Employees at the GreenStar Oasis in the Dewitt Mall found the man lying on the floor, next to the Bookery. “He had track marks all over his arm,” Lauree Myler, manager of Greenstar Oasis, told The Ithaca Voice.
The man had come in on previous occasions to use the bathroom on the first floor.
On Monday, Myler saw him talking with two other people. She told two of her employees to watch him. The employees went into the hallway and saw the man “acting strangely,” Myler said.
When Myler returned to the hallway, the man was unconscious and lying on the floor. Myler found that he still had a pulse and called 911.
Police, Bangs Ambulance and the Ithaca Fire Department responded and carried the man away on a stretcher around 1 p.m.