WARREN, Mich. – Two Warren residents will be arraigned on charges Friday following the overdose death of their teenage neighbor.
Sirena Lawson, 16, died Jan. 6 in her neighbor’s trailer after snorting heroin with her neighbors, authorities said.
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According to police, Lawson and her boyfriend each took five Xanax pills at Lawson’s home before arguing with her mother after she realized that they were high. Lawson then texted her neighbor Leslie Metcalfe that she was high on Xanax and asked Metcalfe to help her buy heroin, police said.
Metcalfe, 40, called another neighbor, Donald McCoy, 55, who went to Detroit to get heroin, police said. Lawson gave him $50 for the drug, they said.
According to police, Lawson, her boyfriend and Metcalfe each snorted a packet of heroin, and Lawson passed out in Metcalfe’s trailer. Metcalfe turned to Lawson hours later and found that she was cold to the touch and not breathing.
Police said Metcalfe didn’t immediately call 911 because she feared arrest. Instead, she contacted another neighbor who attempted CPR on Lawson before calling 911. Police said Metcalfe left the trailer before police arrived.
Lawson was pronounced dead on arrival at St. John Oakland Hospital in Madison Heights, police said.
Metcalfe and McCoy are charged with one count each of delivery of a controlled substance causing death. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
“I will relentlessly prosecute those adults who put drugs into the hands of our children,” Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith said.
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