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Testimony: No Calls For Help As 14-Year-Old Fatally Overdosed
Doctor: If Girl Had Received Timely Care, She'd Likely Be Alive Today

LOS ANGELES -- A 14-year-old Belmont, Calif., girl suffered convulsions, vomited about 20 times and complained of headaches after she took a fatal dose of the party drug Ecstasy, but none of her friends called for help, according to police testimony.

Belmont police officers offered a detailed account Wednesday of the April night Irma Perez overdosed at a friend's slumber party. She was declared brain-dead that weekend, and died days later after she was taken off life support.

The officers gave testimony in San Mateo County Juvenile Court, where a 17-year-old who allegedly supplied the drugs to Irma and the other girls is being held on seven charges, including involuntary manslaughter.

The officers' testimony, based on interviews with eyewitnesses, offered a glimpse of drug-savvy teenagers and clueless adults in a case that has shocked parents and teachers in the San Francisco Bay area, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

After taking the Ecstasy pill, Irma, convinced she was going to die, asked two friends at the party to tell her family goodbye and that she loved them.

Irma pleaded for water and fresh air, grew dizzy and stopped talking, moaned all night and sometimes screamed, officers testified. Several of the teens suggested calling for medical help, but none would summon an adult. Three adults were home at the time, but didn't appear to notice what was happening downstairs.

To help their friend, the girls gave Irma a bath and offered her bread, water, Advil and marijuana.

If the girl had received timely care, "there's a significant likelihood she'd be alive today," said Dr. K. Leslie Avery, who later treated Irma at Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.

The 17-year-old is the only one of five people charged in connection with Irma's death who hasn't yet reached a plea agreement. The teenager's lawyer, Vincent O'Malley, said it was unfair for the district attorney to single out his client for the manslaughter charge.