State Rep. Payton helps apparently high teen girl

For state lawmakers, "constituent services" usually entails helping a local person with a driver's license or navigating a state agency.

For State Rep. Tony J. Payton Jr. on Monday afternoon, it involved helping a 16-year-old girl he found outside his district office apparently high on PCP and banging her head against a metal gate.

Payton was in his Frankford office when a staffer around 4:30 p.m. alerted the Democratic legislator that the teenager was outside causing a scene.

The girl was hitting her head on the metal gate of a medical supply store and could barely stand, Payton said. He helped to carry her into his office.

"What did she take? What did she drink?" Payton recalled asking the girl's friend, another teenage girl.

The friend claimed she had been drinking Four Loko, an alcoholic energy drink, but Payton knew from the way the girl was acting, "it was beyond that," he said.

Payton said he tried to help the intoxicated girl in his office, but she was screaming and threatening to kill herself, so the office called 911.

A medic dispatch was made at 4:46 p.m. A police vehicle was also dispatched to the scene. The girl's friend ran off when the call was made, Payton said.

The girl was taken to a nearby hospital, Payton said. He said the girls left behind a bag that contained what appeared to be PCP.

He said it was "scary" to know that a 16-year-old girl could be using PCP, also known as "wet" on the street.

Payton said he had some information on the girl and hoped to have a conversation with her parents and get her professional help.