The Carrboro Police Department announced it arrested and charged for a man who is accused of providing drugs last summer to a resident that died from an overdose.

A release from the department on Thursday said authorities arrested John Robert Small, a 31-year-old Carrboro resident, on Wednesday in connection to the death of Bradley Zimmerman. The incident happened on July 31, 2022, as emergency services responded to a call of cardiac arrest at a residence on Lindsay Street. Zimmerman was dead upon their arrival, said the police department, and his autopsy later revealed it stemmed from an overdose.

Carrboro Police are charging Small through North Carolina’s Death by Distribution law passed in 2019, which allows prosecution of those who sold substances to buyers that later overdosed from those specific drugs. The state enacted the law as a response to the ongoing opioid epidemic across the United States.

Smalls also faces felony possession of a Schedule II controlled substance, maintaining a vehicle for drugs, and paraphernalia possession charges in addition to the death by distribution charge. He is held in Orange County Jail under a $210,000 bond created by the combination of charges and was scheduled to make his first appearance in court on Thursday afternoon.

The Carrboro Police Department provided overdose resources in its release, including local resources offered by Orange County. It also shared details on North Carolina’s Good Samaritan Law, which gives some protections to those who are in an overdose state or calling 911 if someone is overdosing from drugs. Carrboro Police also said it is “committed to providing life-saving care in these situations” and its officers carry the opioid antagonist naloxone to help with overdose responses.

 

Photo via the Carrboro Police Department/NextDoor.

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