News

Live-Stream Shows Couple Overdosing On Sidewalk While People Watch And Laugh

Facebook/Courtland Garner

It's happened again.

Yet another video of a couple overdosing has surfaced, and  sadly, it seems to have resulted from the usual culprit: opioids.

This time, however, instead of photos of adults in a car with a toddler, it's a Facebook live-stream of a man and a woman lying unconscious on a sidewalk in Tennessee.

User Courtland Garner posted the footage:

The incident occurred in the downtown area of Memphis, local Fox affiliate WREG-TV reports. In the  live-stream video, which runs for eight minutes, Garner can be heard laughing while making jokes at the pair's expense.

Other bystanders simply marveled at the sight of two adults passed out on the concrete.

Garner told WREG,

What they were doing was children things. It was a spectacle. It made me laugh. They can help themselves. I know for a fact all the kids are on social media, and when kids see that video, you know what they are going to say? I don't want to look stupid like that, I don't want to do those drugs.
Facebook/Courtland Garner

In a separate Facebook Live video, Garner further defended himself. He cited the same reasons as before to explain why he publicized the incident on Facebook.

He said,

I did that for the kids. I know the kids be on social media. I want the kids to see the video and they'll be like, 'Damn, I don't need to do drugs, look at them guys.'

Like most of America, Memphis has seen an increase in overdose cases recently, Karen Morgan told WREG. Morgan works with the Turning Point, an organization in Memphis that helps people deal with substance abuse.

She told the news station,

People tend to think they've done it to themselves. Well, no, they haven't. Their brains have been changed by the use of the chemicals.

Unfortunately, videos like the one shot in Memphis have made that fact all too clear.

Citations: WREG-Memphis, Lad Bible