Man dies at gas station of drug overdose

A 45-year-old Des Plaines man put out of a car Saturday at a Des Plaines gas station died a short time later of a drug overdose, Des Plaines Police Chief Jim Prandini said Monday evening.

After reviewing surveillance camera tapes from the gas station, police have decided the man was alive at the time he was set out of the car, and they don't plan to charge the people in the car, Prandini said. The tape was used to identify the people, he said.

Police reports and the chief gave this account:

A witness saw a man get out of the brown Mazda 929 sedan in the parking lot of a gas station at 2380 S. River Road, go into the station to purchase something and return to the car about 8:50 p.m. Saturday

According to the witness, the female driver told the man she did not want the victim in the car anymore, so the man reached into the back seat and took the victim and placed him sitting up on the ground on the west side of the lot directly south of the gas station. The man got back into the car and they drove south on River Road.

A gas station attendant called 911, and the responding officer found the victim sitting there. His face was bluish in color. Responding paramedics determined that he had no vital signs.

He was pronounced dead at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.