ADDICT DIES AFTER FRIENDS VIDEOTAPE HEROIN THROES

Union City, N.J. - Luis Torres' friends figured they could get him
off heroin if he could only see himself on drugs, so they videotaped
him as he was coming down from a high.

For six or seven minutes, they recorded him as he went through
body-wracking seizures and struggled to breathe.

But Torres died a few hours later, apparently of an
overdose.

"The whole point was to show him how stupid he looked," his friend
Michael Shipman, 34, said yesterday. "I didn't think anything was
going to happen."

Police seized the tape to investigate whether Shipman and the
undetermined number of other friends who were there should face
charges for not getting medical help for Torres sooner.

But prosecutor Terrence Hull said no charges will be filed. He said an
investigation showed that those who videotaped Torres were trying to
help him and didn't realize he was dying.

The tape was made at Shipman's apartment Jan. 6. Torres, 32, a carpet
installer from Union City, had arrived at the apartment early that
morning with a drug buddy after snorting heroin.

Shipman, who had known Torres for about six months after Torres
starting going regularly to the bar where Shipman worked, said he was
always trying to get Torres to kick his habit.

When the taping started, Shipman said, he asked the man Torres was
with whether the breathing difficulty and seizures were anything to be
concerned about.

"I don't do drugs, and I don't have any experience with it," Shipman
said. "This guy said he'll be all right. I believed him."

Shipman said he went to bed after checking that Torres was still
breathing, and woke up about 2: 30 p.m. His roommate came home, and
around 3: 30 p.m. asked, "Does he always sleep with his mouth and eyes
open?"

Shipman said he called 911 and tried to give Torres mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation, but it was too late. Torres was taken to the hospital,
where he was pronounced dead.