La Crosse Police responded to 2734 Harvey St. (the Brunk House) 3 times last night resulting in the arrest of 5 Brunk House residents with 2 of the incidents stemming from adverse reactions to smoking K2 – a synthetic cannabinoid. The Brunk House is part of the ATTIC Correction Services and is a community correctional facility used as an alternative to traditional incarceration.
The first call was at 4:29 pm when Police were dispatched to the Brunk House to arrest Cole L. Fisher 05-07-1986, a resident of the facility, on a probation warrant. Upon arrival police did locate Cole and arrested him without incident. As a side note, Cole was also arrested less than a month ago for another probation warrant. See the “Birds of a Feather” Facebook story that La Crosse Police put out on July 7th covering that incident: https://www.facebook.com/lacrossepolice/posts/1240881599263766
La Crosse Police were dispatched again to the Brunk House at 8:19 pm, along with First Responders for an unresponsive male that was being administered CPR. The investigation and witness accounts indicated that Brunk House resident Ryan C. Harris 03-28-1977 had taken a “hit” of K2 and immediately became unresponsive and was not breathing. Harris was treated and released from the hospital, ultimately being arrested and taken to jail for a probation violation.
La Crosse Police and First Responders hardly had enough time to complete handling the previous incident when they were dispatched back to the Brunk House at 10:33 pm for another possible K2 incident. The information received by dispatch was that there was an 18 year old male who was vomiting green stuff, had gone in and out of consciousness, and was now very disoriented. This investigation revealed that Nathan P. Herzer 08-08-1997 of the Brunk House and other residents had been smoking K2 outside in the back of the residence when Herzer had the adverse reaction and 911 was called. Herzer was transported to the hospital, medically cleared and taken into custody for a probation warrant. Also, arrested were Brunk House residents Jonathan A. Rieck 11-03-1992 for a probation warrant and Troy J. Smith 07-14-1990 for a probation warrant and possession of K2.
La Crosse Police have dealt with K2 sporadically over the past several years. K2 or Spice are blanket names applied to synthetic cannabinoids, however K2 and Spice are actual branding names (like calling a copy machine a Xerox machine.) These products are unregulated and dangerous. They are essentially vegetative materials that have been sprayed with man-made mind altering chemicals.
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- Cole Fisher
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- Ryan Harris
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- Jonathan Rieck
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- Troy Smith
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- Nathan Herzer
La Crosse PD Newsroom 
why is this place still running. what about the people having this place next to them
people die in hospitals. do we close them as well?
It’s a half-way house; it’s for people who are just out of jail or prison…would you prefer they go directly to living on the street? Do you think there’d be less crime that way?