OR NOT

About those Santa Monica deaths....

An important correction.

I wrote yesterday, in a post that I’ve just updated, about a local news report from Santa Monica that described a series of street deaths in that city near the county’s harm reduction site. The local story characterized the deaths as public, as drug-related, and as deaths of homeless people: addicts dropping dead on the sidewalk. I’ve been asking the county medical examiner’s office, the Santa Monica Police Department, and county public health officials to explain and discuss the deaths.

Here’s my conclusion: The local news site that I trusted and relied on was flatly wrong, and I was wrong to rely on it. I made a significant mistake by not waiting for answers before I relied on a local news story. I just got this message from Lt. Lewis Gilmour of the Santa Monica Police Department: “They are not public deaths, but rather deaths of elderly individuals who died in their residences, due to natural causes or medical complications.”

This month, Santa Monica has had one public death, on a sidewalk in the 3000 Block of 2nd Street on May 4. That death is still being investigated.

It’s correct to say that there’s a remarkable number of drug addicts and homeless people gathered around Christine Emerson Reed Park, and Santa Monica is enduring a long crisis over the marriage of drug addiction and homelessness. It’s not at all correct to say that there have been eight street deaths in the last month.

I’m sorry I made that significant mistake. The story is still up at the local news site as I write this.