Metro
Five Cheesecake Factory employees overdosed last month in Hackensack, New Jersey.
J.C. Rice
Five NJ Cheesecake Factory workers who inadvertently overdosed on cocaine laced with fentanyl in the parking lot of a high-end Hackensack shopping mall were playing “Russian Roulette” with their lives, a colleague told The Post this week.
The Cheesecake factory worker, who requested anonymity, said the drug use in the lower level parking lot is so “depressing” he now leaves his car in a different area.
Michelle Edoo, 29, of Bergenfield, died three days after she and four female co-workers from Cheesecake Factory ingested fentanyl-laced cocaine in the lower level parking lot of The Shops at Riverside, authorities said.
The mall includes shops like Saks, Bloomingdale’s and Bottega Veneta.
The four other mall workers, who have not been identified, survived the March 15 incident.
“It shook me up,” said the anonymous colleague, noting workers usually congregate on the lower parking level where the women overdosed. “It’s like playing Russian Roulette today. You don’t know what’s in half the stuff.”
“There are so many different stories” about what happened, he added, noting he’s not seen the four survivors since the incident.
The group of friends thought they were ingesting cocaine and were unaware it was laced with a dangerous amount of the opioid fentanyl, Bergen prosecutors have said.
One frequent Hackensack mall visitor claimed there is constant drug use on the lower level of the garage.
“We always complain about it when we’re down there,” the visitor alleged.
The restaurant manager declined to comment.
Good Samaritan Aaron Kim, 30, was about to work out at a gym in the mall when he caught wind of the mayhem in the parking lot and rushed to help, he said.
“They were clearly not breathing and they didn’t have a pulse,” he said.
Kim, who left once first responders took over, gave high praise to an unidentified nurse practitioner who “knew exactly what to do and took control of the situation.”
The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office would not comment on the “ongoing investigation.”
Michelle Edoo’s mother Natasha, declined to address how her daughter died.
“This is a private time. It’s very sad,” she told The Post, adding, “Fortunately, Michelle was able to help other people. Her organs were donated to four people.”
A Gofundme for Edoo’s daughter has raised nearly $9,000.
