ALLEGED OVERDOSING COULD STIFFEN MAN'S SENTENCE

When police stopped a car, Deshawn Walter Anderson was chewing something,
police said at the time. Police said at the time that Deshawn Walter
Anderson was chewing something when the car he was in was stopped.

In what a federal prosecutor has described as a "novel approach" to a drug
case, a Roanoke man faces a stiffer penalty on a crack cocaine possession
charge because he allegedly caused his own overdose.

Deshawn Walter Anderson, 23, and another Roanoke man, Earnest Junior
Thompson, 22, each have been charged with conspiracy to distribute more
than 5 kilograms of cocaine and a distribution of more than 5 grams of
crack cocaine on Nov. 7 that led to serious bodily injury. The charges
against them were unsealed recently in federal court. Thompson, who is
still at large, also was charged with possession with intent to distribute
cocaine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Jacobsen said that he did not know of any
previous case in which a defendant was charged in connection with causing
his or her own overdose. If Anderson or Thompson is convicted of that
distribution charge, and the finding is made that the distribution caused
death or serious bodily injury, it could result in a longer sentence.

Anderson wound up in the hospital the day the crimes allegedly occurred.
Police had pursued a car on Liberty Road Northwest after they thought they
saw a drug transaction. Police later found out Thompson was driving and
Anderson was the passenger.

As the car drove, police saw the person in the passenger side of the car,
who was later identified as Anderson, throwing things out the car window,
according to police accounts. Police later discovered baggies of crack
cocaine, Jacobsen said.

When police stopped the car, Anderson was chewing something, police said at
the time. Soon after, Anderson had an adverse reaction and was taken to
Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. Authorities attributed the reaction to
a cocaine overdose.