East Liverpool Police Officer Accidental Fentanyl Overdose

An East Liverpool officer needed Narcan after accidentally overdosing by touching fentanyl on a traffic stop.

Ohio Officer Accidentally Overdoses On Fentanyl During Traffic Stop

East Liverpool, OH – East Liverpool Police Officer Chris Green is recovering after accidentally overdosing on fentanyl.

According to WFMJ, the incident occurred on Friday night, May 12, when a suspicious vehicle was observed to be participating in a drug transaction on Spring Grove Street by East Liverpool police officers.

Officers tried to stop the vehicle, but its driver Justin Buckle, 25, tried to flee and almost backed into an unmarked cruiser.  The officers were able to stop the vehicle at West 8th Street and Lisbon Street.  Officers said they could see Buckle and the passenger, Cortez Collins, 24, moving suspiciously within the vehicle.

Once stopped, Collins was pulled from the vehicle and found to have outstanding warrants for possession of carfentanil, which is a very dangerous opioid sometimes used as an elephant tranquilizer.

While officers were extracting Collins, an officer held Buckle inside the car at gunpoint.  Buckle then began to use his shoe to grind some type of white powder into the carpet.  Officer Green entered the car to stop Buckle from destroying what was believed to be evidence.

Several piles of the white powder were found throughout the front of the vehicle, on Buckle’s shoes, and on the mouth of an opened can of Mountain Dew.

Collins and Buckle both told police that the white powder was cocaine.  However, field tests for cocaine came back negative.

Both suspects then told officers that the substance was fentanyl.

And it was just moments later that Officer Green began feeling sick and dizzy.  After thinking quickly about everything that had just happened, it was determined that Officer Green had somehow gotten fentanyl on his skin while getting Buckle out of the car.

An ambulance that was already on scene gave Officer Green Narcan, the life-saving overdose reversal drug.

Fentanyl can be up to 50 times more powerful than heroin, and it only takes a few granules to cause an overdose.

The Narcan worked, and Officer Green is okay.

Buckle and Cortez have been charged with tampering with evidence.  Additional charges are expected.

With the recent explosion in the popularity of fentanyl, officers have been warned about the dangers of touching the drug, but this is the first confirmed case that we’ve heard of where a police officer needed Narcan to survive.

Do you think that the drug dealers should be charged with felony assault for his overdose? We’d like to hear what you think. Please let us know in the comments.