A 16-year-old likely died due to an overdose early Friday, according to police, who said the teen’s body was dropped off by other minors at a Brownsville hospital.
The teen’s name is not being release because he is a juvenile, but police said his body was dropped off at about 3:30 a.m. Friday at the emergency entrance at Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville.
According to Investigator Martin Sandoval, spokesman for the Brownsville Police Department, surveillance video from the hospital shows two juveniles, a male and female, drive up to the hospital in a Chrysler 300 vehicle. The youths drove up to the emergency door entrance and—when the doors didn’t open—they started banging on the doors. A nurse noticed the teens at the door, and saw that the teenage boy was in the backseat of the vehicle and was unresponsive.
As soon as the unresponsive teenager was taken into the hospital, the other teens drove away, Sandoval said.
Police were able to identify the teens, track them down and question them, Sandoval said.
Why did the teens drive away?
They were afraid of being asked too many questions. They thought if they dropped him off in the hospital that they were going to be fine,” Sandoval said.
The police spokesman said the teens and the 16-year-old were partying when he collapsed.
“They said they were there partying (and) he collapsed, he fainted. They got him in the car and they took him to the hospital,” Sandoval said.
Authorities are awaiting an autopsy, However, investigators suspect the teenage boy’s death was most likely caused by an overdose. “We are speculating that’s probably what happened,” Sandoval said.
Whether charges are filed against the juveniles in the case would be up to Brownsville Police Department investigators and the Cameron County District Attorney’s office, Sandoval added.
