Tinton Falls Man, High on Club Drug, Jumps on Roof of Car, Police Say

Tinton Falls, NJ - A Tinton Falls man, allegedly high on the club drug ketamine, ran around in the middle of the street Monday, screaming, shouting and then jumping on the roof of an occupied car, police said.

The incident happened Monday near Nashville Court in Tinton Falls, according to the criminal complaint. Police were called in for the public disturbance and Joseph Thurnherr, 31, was found with a blue cut-off straw with a powdery white substance on it — suspected ketamine.

Ketamine, a white crystal-like powder, was developed as an anesthesia, as it induces a trance-like state where users feel little to no pain. It is often used on cats and other animals when they have surgery, as it does not slow breathing the way other anesthesia does. It is sometimes used to treat bipolar episodes and major depression as well. However, ketamine is increasingly used recreationally, as it causes extreme visual hallucinations. It makes the user feel disconnected from reality and disconnected from the world. It emerged as a club drug in the Hong Kong dance culture in the 1990s.

A later search of Thurnherr's home on Nashville Court revealed 37 packages of suboxone as well as synthetic marijuana laced with PCP, police said. The drugs were kept in his bedroom, police said, within easy reach of a two-year-old child in the home. Thurnherr was also charged with child endangerment as police said he was under the influence of the narcotics in front of the child. A woman in the home, Linda Chereminisinoff, 30, was arrested as well.