FRIENDS TAPE HEROIN ADDICT WHO DIES

UNION CITY, N.J. (AP) For hours, Luis Torres struggled to come off a
heroin high, enduring body-wracking seizures and fighting to breathe.

His friends videotaped Torres for six or seven minutes, thinking that
showing the scene to him later would do him good. Then they left him to
sleep it off.

Torres never saw the tape. He died a few hours later, apparently of an
overdose.

"If it wasn't for the drugs, the kid was perfect," said a teary-eyed Michael
Shipman, standing in the doorway of his apartment, where Torres died.
"Anything I ever needed, he was there."

Police seized the tape to investigate whether Shipman and an undetermined
number of other friends should face charges for not getting medical help for
the 32-year-old 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 on Jan. 6. Torres, a carpet
installer from Union City, had arrived at the apartment early that morning
with a drug buddy after snorting some heroin. He was high when he got there.

When the taping started, Shipman said, he asked the man Torres was with if
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 to see 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.

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