Heroin's face: Indiana woman, unconscious from overdose, with baby nearby

Police in Hope, Ind., found the woman unconscious from an overdose Saturday. She was sprawled behind the steering wheel of her car, head tilted back, sunglasses over blonde curls pulled into a ponytail.  Needle still in hand. Her 10-month old son crying in the back seat. This child, the local town marshal said, is the face of the most helpless victims of Indiana's drug crisis. "Parents are doing this more often with children in the car because they are doing it away from someone who is going to disapprove," said Matthew Tallent, the marshal. "This is becoming a new norm for drug users."  Officer Skylar Hollin's body camera was rolling as he approached the vehicle and opened the driver's door. The time was 2:06 p.m. Police say the camera captured Erika P. Hurt, 25, unconscious in the driver's seat of a car parked at the Dollar General in Hope, located about 45 miles southeast of Indianapolis with a population of 2,100. The incident is reminiscent of what police came across last month in East Liverpool, Ohio: A grandmother and her friend overdosed on heroin in a car with her 4-year-old grandson in the back seat. Photos posted to Facebook became widely circulated. Both incidents serve as reminders of how pervasive and disturbing the problem of heroin abuse is in Indiana and across the region. It's been described as an epidemic by politicians and public health officials here.