[StBernard] Chalmette man booked with negligent homicide after leaving dying OD victim in vehicle

[Westley Annis]

Chalmette man booked with negligent homicide after leaving dying OD victim
in vehicle
by The Times-Picayune 
Tuesday March 24, 2009, 11:33 AM
.

A Chalmette man has been booked with negligent homicide in the death of
another man believed to have overdosed on heroin, St. Bernard Parish
authorities said. 

Investigators said Timothy Johnson, 48, 3422 Jackson Blvd., left Ryan Eisler
in a parked car in front of a vacant lot, where his body was discovered the
next day.

Toxicology tests are pending, but Eisler, 31, of Madisonville, died of an
apparent heroin overdose, the sheriff's office said. 

Johnson was booked Monday night.

A sheriff's spokesman said Eisler had allegedly been using heroin on
Saturday night and showed up at Johnson's house. At some point, Eisler
suffered respiratory distress and became unresponsive. Johnson, who was
serving a three-year probation for a previous heroin arrest of his own,
allegedly put Eisler in Eisler's vehicle, drove it to an empty lot, parked
the vehicle, left the hazard lights on and walked home.

The sheriff's office said Eisler and Johnson's daughter have a child
togther. 

The sheriff's office said a man cutting grass on Sunday discovered the dead
man in the vehicle.

Johnson was booked because he didn't render help to Eisler, and instead left
him to die to avoid getting into trouble with the law, said St. Bernard
Parish Chief Deputy James Pohlmann.

Johnson was being held in St. Bernard Parish without bond.

More details will be posted as they become available.