Utica (WSYR-TV) – Utica Police say they responded to three incidents on Tuesday that they say are related to “bath salts,” including a report of a man in his underwear waving a knife at a fire house.
The phrase “bath salts” refers to a synthetic drug that has been connected to numerous bizarre and often violent incidents throughout Central New York and beyond.
Congress recently passed a bill criminalizing several chemicals associated with synthetic drugs, including some used in bath salts.
Shortly after receiving the report around 11:10 p.m., an officer found the man at the fire house in Oneida Square. Firefighters confirmed that the man walked into the building waving the knife around, saying that people were chasing him.
The officer took the man’s knife away and discovered that he was having paranoid delusions after using bath salts. He was taken to the hospital for treatment.
Earlier on Tuesday, police responded to 30 Richardson Ave. after a neighbor reported that a 43-year-old man was throwing things around and appeared to be “under the influence of something.” Police say the man was delusional, agitated, and was speaking rapidly. The man later confirmed that he consumed bath salts.
Also on Tuesday,
police responded to an incident on Mary Street where a 21-year-old woman had wandered onto a stranger’s property while suffering from hysteria and hallucinations. She also admitted that she had taken bath salts.
