Night shift worker, 21, 'started speaking another language' before dying hours later on drug-fuelled night out
23 September 2024, 15:43 | Updated: 23 September 2024, 15:44
A night shift worker who took ecstasy while out with friends started 'speaking another language' and died the next day, an inquest has heard.
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Jakub Jarzecki, a 21-year-old originally from Italy, worked at food supplier Wellocks in Nelson, Lancashire, when he and several friends went out for a drink after their shift.
The group - which included Jarzecki's brother-in-law, Mateusz - had learned that a colleague had been suspended and wanted to go out in case 'he never returned', Preston Coroner's Court heard.
The work friends went to a female colleague's house on Castle Street on May 1 and Mateusz left after one drink.
But two hours later Mateusz received an alarming call from one of the colleagues still at the house warning that Mr Jarzecki was in danger.
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He went back to the house and one of the colleagues appeared reluctant to call an ambulance, the court heard.
"Are you f*****g mad? He looks like he's dying," Mateusz responded, after recognising he was severely unwell.
Paramedics arrived at the house shortly after 9.30am where they found Jarzecki with a high heart rate of 150 beats per minute.
He also had a high temperature and respiratory rate and was urgently rushed to Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital. While in the ambulance he began to suffer seizures and went into cardiac arrest.
Jarzecki was given CPR for 30 minutes and administered additional fluids of insulin and dextrose to counter his acidic blood.
But his condition deteriorated and doctors made the decision to stop their resuscitation attempt.
Katarzyna - whose house Jarzecki was at when he was taken ill - told the inquest: "Jakub was a cheerful person who I could joke with but who I could also talk to about serious things.
"At 7pm I started work and one man was suspended from work and sent home. We said we should all meet and have a drink as he might not come back to work.
"After work we went to my house in Nelson. Something was happening to Jakub. His eyes were open and he was speaking in a strange language.
"We didn't know who he was talking to. He was behaving strangely.'
Police subsequently searched the house where the group gathered and found two empty snap-seal bags similar to those in which illegal drugs are often sold.
Detective Inspector Iain Czapowski, of Lancashire Police, said officers found no evidence that drugs had been consumed on the premises.
But he added: "What stood out was the sheer quantity of alcohol that had been consumed."
Mateusz said in a statement: "I think they were all taking drugs as I can't think why they wouldn't call an ambulance sooner. I just don't understand why they didn't call an ambulance."
Jarzecki's sister, Klaudia, added: "It's been the hardest time of our lives trying to cope with what's happened."
Toxicology tests found that Jarzecki had levels of MDMA (ecstasy) in his system which were within the range encountered in fatalities.
Assistant coroner Sian Jones ruled that Jarzecki's was drug-related.
She said: "When his brother-in-law arrived, even to a lay person it was clear it wasn't a case of someone who was drunk. He was incoherent and talking in a strange language.
"The person whose phone he used was still reluctant to call an ambulance and one has to wonder why that was. The reluctance to call an ambulance suggests to me that at least some of those present were aware something has been taken and were worried, maybe due to their employment."
Jarzecki's colleague Ryan Holt set up a GoFundMe page for his family which has raised more than £2,000 towards the funeral.
Holt wrote on the page: "Our colleague Jakub sadly passed away on May 2. He started with the company in February 2022 and in that time he has spent time working as part of the night dairy team and the night freezer team and built relationships right across the warehouse."
