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Son, father, charged after father overdoses
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Police reports said a man overdosed on heroin Wednesday and his son was arrested on a possession of heroin charge as police were investigating a homicide nearby on the East Side.
Nicholas Drabek, 25, is in the Mahoning County jail on the heroin charge, while his father Kenneth Drabek, 54, is being treated at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital for overdosing on heroin. He is expected to face misdemeanor charges of possession of drug-abuse instruments and possession of drug paraphernalia when he is released from the hospital.
As officers converged on Ayers Street about 3 p.m. to help preserve the crime scene and control the crowd after a 21-year-old man was shot dead in the middle of the street, police got a call about an hour later saying that there was a possible body in the first block of North Bruce Street. Some officers who were on Ayers Street were shifted over to North Bruce Street to answer that call.
When officer Melvin Johnson got there, he knocked on the door and Nicholas Drabek opened it. But when he saw a police officer on the porch, he slammed the door in Johnson’s face, reports said.
Police managed to get inside and they found an older man on the floor motionless, reports said. Paramedics from Rural Metro then arrived and told officers the man was suffering from a heroin overdose, reports said.
Reports said the officers asked Nicholas Drabek if his father did drugs, and the younger Drabek answered he was not sure. He then consented to a search by police, who found a dose of heroin on him. He was them taken into custody.
Where Kenneth Drabek was lying, officers found six needles and a spoon, reports said. He was taken to the hospital with a police hold.
Court records show no record in municipal court or Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for Kenneth Drabek. For his son, the only case he has in municipal court is an arraignment Tuesday for an arrest Sunday during a traffic stop at state Route 711 and Gypsy Lane, where he was charged with possession of a drug-abuse instrument and possession of drug paraphernalia. Records do not show if he posted a bond after his arraignment.
Nicholas Drabek has no common pleas court record.