Accused dealer charged in OD death; 'He just left her in a cold, wet shower’
•
A Glade man who was arrested for dealing drugs in 2021 is now facing a more serious charge for his role in the death of a woman who overdosed.
Shawn Thrash, 36, is being charged with manslaughter in the December death of 54-year-old Tracy Holifield for delaying getting medical attention for her, the Jones County Sheriff’s Department reported. He was arrested and booked into the Jones County Adult Detention Center late Friday and made his initial appearance in Jones County Justice Court on Sunday.
The suspect ignored a reporter’s questions as he made his way to the courtroom. He kept his head down and spoke softly when Judge Sonny Saul asked standard questions. Thrash asked for a court-appointed attorney, saying he couldn’t afford his own. He works as a landscaper, lives with his mother, has a 6-month-old baby “and one on the way,” he said.
Saul revoked the bond that Thrash was out of jail on from the April 2021 charge for sale of a controlled substance. That means Thrash will have to remain in jail until that case is handled in Jones County Circuit Court. That trial is set to be on the docket soon, Sgt. Jake Driskell of the JCSD Narcotics Division said.
Investigators have been working on making a case against Thrash since Holifield died at his house on Kitchens Road in the Glade Community in December, Driskell said.
“There is no proof he dealt” the deadly drugs to her, Driskell said, even though there have been “a string of overdoses around him.”
But what can be proved is that Holifield overdosed in Thrash’s house, and he tried to revive her with ice water, then in the shower and even “prevented” family members from getting in to check on her, Driskell said.
A responding JCSD deputy administered a dose of nasal Narcan to Holifield and a Powers emergency medical responder administered a second dose before EMServ Ambulance Service arrived and took Holifield to the hospital, where she later died.
“You’ve got about 30 minutes to get help for someone (after they OD), and (Thrash) didn’t do that,” Driskell said. “He was negligent in providing medical care that she needed. He just left her in a cold, wet shower.”
The JCSD will be pushing for more charges like this to help combat the problem of fentanyl-related overdoses, Driskell said. The Legislature passed Parker’s Law last April — a bill that imposes a minimum of 20 years in prison for dealers who sell fentanyl that results in an overdose death. Now there needs to be a law to deal with people who don’t report overdoses, he said.
“Our narcotics and criminal investigators have worked hard on this case,” Sheriff Joe Berlin said. “We pray that her family and friends find some comfort in the fact that an arrest has now been made.”
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7rbHAnZyrZZOWua16wqikaKaVrMBwstGenJimlazAcLLRqKRmnJWWuaq6xmarqGWUmq61tI6aqa2hk6GyoK2VaW%2Bbb5RnenqulJ9kammVmXqihMBvZJ%2BeaGyxeoGSnWttm16dwa64