Man Who Unplugged Son Takes PCP
The man who held policemen and doctors at bay with a pistol in a hospital while he disconnected his brain-damaged infant son from life support last month was hospitalized Thursday for an overdose of the drug PCP, authorities said.
Rudy Linares, 23, suffering from a reaction to PCP, also known as “Angel Dust,” had cocaine and alcohol in his system also, police said. They said he had mistaken the drug for cocaine and apparently did not plan to commit suicide.
Deputy Police Supt. Steve Zalas said that, when police officers asked Linares why he had taken the drug, Linares responded: “ ‘What would you do if your son just died?’ ”
Linares was taken to the same Berwyn hospital to which his son, Samuel, originally had been admitted on Aug. 2 after inhaling a piece of a balloon and suffering brain damage from a lack of oxygen. The father was released from the hospital later Thursday.
No charges were filed against Linares, but police said the incident remained under investigation.
The overdose occurred about two weeks after a grand jury refused to indict Linares on a murder charge in the death of his comatose 15-month-old son.
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