Crime & Safety

Cops: Heroin Shooter Snoozes in Olympic Star Lot

Police said they found several hypodermic needles and dozens of bags filled with heroin residue on a man who was napping in a local restaurant parking lot. He also reportedly had spoons and a rolled up dollar bill. He blamed his girlfriend, police said.

Two officers on bicycle patrol recently rolled up on a man in the Olympic Star parking lot who they said was hunched over his steering wheel with his headlights on and car running.

They said Daniel Hughes, 22, of the 17200 block of South 68th Court in , had his face down over the wheel around 11:30 p.m. June 22 with his cigarettes and cell phone on his lap. The officers rapped on the windows several times before Hughes awoke to them next to his car, according to the report. 

"When Daniel saw us outside his vehicle, he grabbed what appeared to be a paper towel and placed it into his pocket," the report said. "I then moved around to the driver's side of the vehicle and observed Daniel's eyes to be constricted."

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His speech was "extremely slow and labored," according to police. He told them he was stopping at Olympic Star—located on 171st Street—to get some coffee and that he was snoozing behind the wheel because he "hasn't slept in weeks," the report said.

Asked if he had anything illegal in the car, he reportedly told the cops that the vehicle and all its contents were his girlfriend's. He then directed them to a Chicago Blackhawks bag filled with drugs and paraphernalia, they said.

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The sack, located on the passenger-side front seat, allegedly contained 10 hypodermic needles, one plastic syringes bag, three silver spoons with black-charred bottoms, one rolled up dollar bill, a dark-colored glass pipe, 31 plastic bags with white "powdery residue" in them and three residue-filled paper towels. 

"While speaking with Daniel, I observed what appeared to be a fresh track mark commonly associated with heroin users on (his) left arm near the elbow," an officer wrote in the report. "There was also a small amount of dry blood in the same area."

Hughes was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a hypodermic syringe. The residue in the bags did not accumulate to enough to charge him for possession of heroin, according to police.

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