Suspected Heroin Is Actually Human Remains

Two bags of powder seized after a car accident that police suspected to be heroin turned out to be human remains.

Centralmaine.com reports the incident started on Saturday morning in Manchester when Augusta resident, Kevin Curtis, loaned his car to his friend, Jess Legendre. The 31-year-old Livermore Falls man was supposed to be running to the supermarket, but ran the vehicle off the pavement of Prescott Road in Manchester, where it struck and broke a utility pole. Police investigating the accident thought he was under the influence of heroin when he passed out, so they used Narcan to revive him.  He ended up having a second dose administered at the hospital sometime later. However, police now say it appears that he was responding to being hit in the face with the air bag.

Police found two bags of a white, powdery substance in the glove compartment and seized it out of suspicion that it was heroin. But when they contacted Curtis, he told them the bags contained his father's ashes. His father died several years ago, but Curtis had just recently received the cremains from his sister, and he was keeping them in the car while he waited for an urn to place them in. He has several children and told authorities that he was afraid the kids would break the bags if he took them inside.

Curtis said that he didn't know that Legendre's license had been suspended because he's a habitual offender. If he had known, he said, he wouldn't have loaned him his car. But officials now say that the driver wasn't under the influence of any drugs, despite the fact that he responded to the Narcan. He's been charged only with operating after revocation of his license.

As for the remains, they've been returned to Mr. Curtis.