BROOKLYN, New York (WSVN) — When a father in New York found his son’s heroin stash, he decided to teach him a dangerous, unforgettable lesson.
“I told him if you’re not going to stop, I will do the same as you do,” Sergey Gnatovskiy, 45, told The New York Post. “I [tried] to send him to rehab. He promised me he was going to go, and I found it again.”
Sergey used his son Maykl’s heroin, and passed out on their living room floor, where the 23-year-old found his father Wednesday afternoon.
Maykl had to use CPR and Narcan to revive his father, which Sergey had to do for Maykl on four different occasions. It was a risky move, but Sergey says it paid off: Maykl agreed to go back to rehab after seeing his father overdose.
“After seeing this, I definitely want to go. I’ve been doing this since I was 15. I’m 23 now, I can’t keep doing this,” Maykl told the Post.
Sergey said Maykl’s mother kicked him out of her house when he was a teenager because of his drug use. He has tried to help his son ever since, but until now, has struggled to get through to him.
“My son was screaming at me, ‘Pop, Pop, are you crazy, you almost died,’” he said.
But Sergey said he was willing to do just about anything to save his son’s life… including risking his own.
“If I lose you — I don’t know. Look what you made me do yesterday? I’ll give you my home, my car, my heart. I don’t want to lose you,” he yelled.
Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.