A very American death: how Caleb Blair lost his life in the Phoenix heat
▻https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/05/caleb-blair-phoenix-arizona-death-heat-drugs
Caleb Blair entered the Circle K gas station in Phoenix asking for help. “I can’t breathe, I’m hot, I need to sit down. I can’t breathe,” he told the male cashier. He was sweaty, panting heavily, and struggling to stand up straight.
It was 10 June 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona, and the city was experiencing the season’s first extreme heatwave. The temperature outside was 112F (44C) and rising.
The cashier told Caleb, a 19-year-old Black man, that he could not rest inside the air-conditioned store – it was against company policy. Blair had no choice but to go back outside, where CCTV footage shows him curled up on the asphalt, rolling around, distressed and struggling to breathe as cars drive in and out of the parking lot. The temperature on the unshaded ground was probably 130-140F (54-60C), but the teenager was unhoused and high on fentanyl, a powerful opioid, and methamphetamine, an addictive upper. He was confused, disorientated and overheating.