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Upstate Mom High On Bath Salts Dies After Attacking 3-Year-Old Son
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 13, 2012
Modified Jun 13, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 13, 2012
Modified Jun 13, 2012
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An upstate mom who was allegedly high on bath salts died after she was Tasered by police yesterday—after she had attacked her three-year-old son and a neighbor. Munnsville police were called after neighbors reported that Pamela McCarthy, 35, had been witnessed punching and choking her three-year-old son in a parking lot. McCarthey was high on bath salts, and was "violently combative" with trooper Christoper Budlong who attempted to arrest her. After pepper spray didn't work, Budlong Tasered McCarthy in order to handcuff her.
McCarthy was taken into custody when she went into an apparent cardiac arrest. She later died at Oneida Healthcare. Eyewitnesses David and Zachary Bridge told CNY Central that they saw McCarthey yelling and hitting the child outside their apartment; at one point, McCarthey was sitting on the pavement spinning and laughing as she was hurting the child. The boy's father, Jason Williams, took him away, and then McCarthy chased neighbor Heather Ames into her apartment and attacked her.
Ames said that she fought off the attack, and McCarthy went back out into the parking lot, stripped off all of her clothes, and threatened people passing by. McCarthy also attacked her pet pit bull at some point. Neighbors all told CNY Central that McCarthy was out of control—one added that she had undergone an operation to place stents in her heart just two days prior to the incident.
The child was taken to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse and was treated for minor injuries. The boy's father told YNN he had an on again/off again relationship with McCarthy: "I told her mom, 'she needs help.' Dad...everyone said, 'get rid of her, just get rid of her,' because I tell all these mean stories, I have nothing good to say. But I love her to death."
Tagged
bath salts
death
munnsville
police
taster
upstate
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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