The mother who beat her three-year-old son while allegedly high on 'bath salts' was photographed running naked through the street - moments before police used a Taser to subdue her。

　　Pamela McCarthy, 35, went into cardiac arrest after the struggle with state troopers outside her apartment in Munnsville, New York on Tuesday. She later died in hospital。

　　The shocking photograph, taken by a neighbour, shows McCarthy running towards the child as he clings to his father in fear。

　　Neighbours had called police at 7.45 p.m. to say the woman was punching and choking her son, attacking neighbours and strangling one of her dogs。

　　The woman's boyfriend, Jason Williams, told WSYR he saw her running naked outside their apartment and ran to grab their son, who McCarthy had been beating and trying to strip。

　　In a recent spate of violent attacks across the country, alleged users of 'bath salts' have taken off their clothes, claiming the illegal synthetic drug causes them to burn up。

　　As state troopers responded to the scene, other neighbours called to report she was becoming increasingly violent。

　　Troopers said the woman growled at them as they approached her and claimed she tried to bite one of the officers。

　　When trooper Christopher Budlong tried to arrest McCarthy, she resisted. In an attempt to subdue her, he used his police-issued pepper spray, but to no effect。

　　He then deployed his Taser and was able to handcuff her. After she was taken into custody, she went into apparent cardiac arrest, police said. She was taken to hospital but later died。

　　Williams said she had a history of drug abuse but was stunned to see her behaviour。

　　An autopsy on McCarthy will be carried out on Wednesday to determine the cause of the death。

　　It is just the latest incident involving bath salts, an illegal synthetic drug believed to be behind a recent outbreak of horrifying attacks。

　　Bath salts, a synthetic amphetamine cocktail known as 'the new LSD', was the believed drug of choice for Rudy Eugene, who he chewed off homeless man Ronald Poppo's face in Miami last month。

　　A man in Louisiana, Carl Jacquneaux, was arrested when he bit off a piece of his neighbour's cheek, which a friend blamed on bath salts。

　　And just this week, a man in North Miami allegedly stripped and exposed himself to a three-year-old girl in a park while on the drug。

　　綜合外國媒體6月14日報道，繼美國邁阿密男子魯迪·尤金因吸食毒品“浴鹽”引發“啃臉案”以后，這種新型毒品日前被懷疑再次“作孽”。中年母親麥卡錫疑似在服用“浴鹽”后變得狂躁不安，不僅毒打自己的3歲兒子，還企圖撕咬一名聞訊趕來的警察。警方被迫使用電擊槍將其制伏，這名母親最終死在了醫院里。

　　自5月26日邁阿密發生“啃臉案”至今，已有至少3起疑似因“浴鹽”引發的不尋常案件。其中，在美國路易斯安那州，一名據稱吸食了這種毒品的男子將自己鄰居的面頰咬掉一塊，幸好該男子被及時制止并被警方抓捕。

　　依照一些警方人員和醫師的說法，“浴鹽”是新型迷幻藥，它看上去像洗澡用的普通浴鹽，但它們的化學成分不同。近來在一些狂歡聚會、尤其是年輕人聚會中越來越“受歡迎”，而且其普通外觀很容易讓食用者躲避警方檢查。

　　美國毒品管制局已去年認定“浴鹽”毒品構成“緊急公共安全威脅”，禁止銷售3種用于制作“浴鹽”的化學制劑。

小科普：“浴鹽”

　　毒品“浴鹽”是一種新型的致幻劑，實際上是一種高效精神類藥物——卡西酮(“凱提諾娜”，“Cathinone”)的高純度結晶。它會直接作用于中樞神經系統，使之興奮或抑制，連續使用后產生依賴性，并依據對人體的危害程度分為一級和二級——一旦超范圍使用，就可視為烈性毒品。

　　其恐怖之處在于，當作為毒品無節制攝入后，會造成短期記憶消失，心率劇增，出汗增加，瞳孔擴散，行為失控，自殘，以至于陶醉于肢體暴力中，而自己卻沒有知覺。曾經有人過癮時割開自己的脖子卻還能行走、跳躍直至死亡。

　　毒品“浴鹽”中毒者甚至無法用鎮靜劑使其恢復狀態，只能直接麻醉。服用毒品“浴鹽”對心理的影響也長達數月。更為糟糕的是這種毒品“浴鹽”藥劑架構實在簡單。理論上一名理工科大學化工專業的學生可以直接在廚房里搞定它。