Dramatic body camera footage shows that a sheriff’s deputy in California nearly died after being exposed to fentanyl at an arrest last month.

As seen in a   public safety video  released by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday, Deputy David Faiivae was exposed to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, on July 3.  

In video, which also features bodycam footage from the incident, Cpl. Scott Crane says he was helping train Faiivae on the day of the arrest. He explained that the deputy “found a white substance that he suspected was drugs.”  

“I was like, ‘hey dude, too close.’ You can’t get that close to it. A couple seconds later, he took some steps back, and he collapsed,” Crane said.  

Crane can be seen in the bodycam footage giving Faiive a nasal spray of naloxone, an anti-opioid overdose medication.

“I remember just not feeling right, and then I fell back, and I don’t remember anything after that,” Faiivae says in the public safety video. “It was in an instant.”  

“I couldn’t breathe," he added. "I was trying to gasp for breath, but I couldn’t breathe at all."

When Faiivae is heard speaking again in the bodycam footage after collapsing, Crane told him, “I’ve got you, OK? I’m not going to let you die.”  

After emergency personnel arrived to transport Faiivae to an area hospital, Crane said he "again" reacted to the drug.

San Diego Sheriff Bill Gore in the public safety video warned viewers about the dangers of fentanyl, noting that deaths from the drug in California have increased nearly 46% in the last year.  

Overdose deaths   spiked to 93,000 in 2020 , compared to 72,000 in 2019. Officials have pointed to fentanyl as a key driver of the fatalities.

AUSTIN, Texas — Austin police now have another tool to help save lives.

On Tuesday, the   Austin Police Department   received enough of the opioid overdose reversal drug   NARCAN to equip the entire force, thanks to a donation from the   Texas Overdose Naloxone Initiative   (TONI).

Currently, only APD's   Organized Crime Division   officers carry the drug.   Austin-Travis County EMS   (ATCEMS) medics respond to overdose calls alongside APD officers and administer NARCAN when necessary.

A   new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention   said there is still not enough of the overdose-reversal drug naloxone where it is needed most.

Naloxone, or its name brand Narcan, can reverse the effects of overdoses on prescription painkillers or other opioids.

The   CDC report said   the number of prescriptions for naloxone doubled from 2017 to 2018.

However, rural counties were far less likely to dispense the lifesaving drug. Often, those are the areas hit hardest by addiction.

“Naloxone distribution is an important component of the public health response to the opioid overdose epidemic,” the CDC said in the report. “Health care providers can prescribe or dispense naloxone when overdose risk factors are present and counsel patients on how to use it.”

Even though it is recommended that the drug be dispensed with every painkiller prescription, the report found that only one in every 69 high-dose opioid prescriptions came with naloxone.

The CDC is asking doctors and pharmacists to allow more access to the drug. The agency also asked insurance companies to lower out-of-pocket costs for patients.

“Efforts to improve naloxone access and distribution work most effectively with efforts to improve opioid prescribing, implement other harm-reduction strategies, promote linkage to medications for opioid use disorder treatment, and enhance public health and public safety partnerships,” the CDC said.

Authorities raided a residential suburban home in leafy Westchester County,   New York   Friday morning and walked out with enough fentanyl to kill nearly 2 million people, an official with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said.

Five kilograms of the   poisonously potent   synthetic opioid were seized along with 6 kilograms of heroin, a more common street drug which, when spiked with fentanyl, has caused tens of thousands of fatal overdoses in America in recent years.

Officials said police arrested 31-year-old Braulio Mata, of Ardsley, 44-year-old Jose Garcia, of Ardsley, 47-year-old Ramon Aracena Alfe, of Mount Vernon, 32-year-old Dionell Duarte Hernandez, of New York, and 20-year-old Yarly Mendoza-Delorbe, of Ardsley.

"The fentanyl alone has the potency to kill nearly over two million people," said Ray Donovan, New York division DEA Special Agent in Charge. "I commend the men and women in the Task Force and Tactical Diversion Squad for their quick and efficient investigation into this organization and their diligence to the safety of the residents living nearby."

The owner of the house told ABC station WABC he rented the split level home in December to a couple who moved from the Bronx but says he was unaware of any illegal activity.

The Ardsley raid was conducted by a task force that included the DEA, Westchester County police, Orangetown police, the Rockland County Sheriff's Office, Yonkers police, and the Putnam County Sheriff's Department.

The targeting of   supply streams of fentany l is part of a nationwide campaign to stem the flow of fentanyl, which has exacerbated   a nationwide epidemic   of opioid overdoses when it is used to   strengthen the potency of more common street drugs   like heroin and prescription pills like oxycodone.

Earlier this week, two California men who operated a similar drug mill out of a Michigan condominium were sentenced to prison. In the summer of 2017, authorities   seized   10 kilograms of pure fentanyl and 20 kilograms of heroin-laced fentanyl , and more than a half million in cash. The seizure contained enough fentanyl to kill ten million people, federal authorities said.

Last week, a 75-year-old New York doctor was convicted of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and fentanyl after authorities charged that he wrote more than   one million prescriptions for oxycodone over three years between 2015 and 2017. Hundreds of fentanyl sprays were seized from the doctor’s home, along with about $729,000 in cash, officials said.

Authorities said that pain management specialist Dr. Ernesto Lopez of Flushing, New York typically charged narcotics-seeking patients $200 to $300 in cash in return for the prescriptions, even though, officials said, 80 percent of his patients were insured.

The week before that, a 29-year-old Connecticut man pleaded guilty to selling opioids in 2017 to   a 24-year-old man the day before the buyer died   of a fatal opioid overdose. The dealer faces up to 20 years in prison.

More than 28,000 Americans died of synthetic opioid overdoses in 2017, the last year for which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides a report.

https://krcrtv.com/news/local/the-danger-of-coming-across-fentanyl-or-other-drugs

REDDING, Calif. — After their response to a   mass overdose  Saturday, and administering several doses of Naloxone, two Chico Police officers had to be treated after being exposed to the drug Fentanyl and something else.  

Chico Police Chief Michael O'Brien says the officers were transported to the hospital but were treated and released and are doing well.  

As of 2018, Redding police officers also carry something similar to Naloxone, called "Narcan". Redding Chief Cullen Kreider says the Redding Fire Department does not carry Naloxone yet. Recently, the department has received the S-SV approval to carry it and have also received a grant to purchase it. Chief Kreider says they plan on training their administration on the counter drug soon so they can have it on board their engines.  

First responders that do carry it say it is a life-saving tool, that has been added to their duty belts.    

"This Narcan [a version of Naloxone] is so easy to use. It's simply just a spray into the nose and it immediately has an effect," Officer Will Williams with the Redding Police Department explained.  

The counter drug is really meant to save the officers who come in contact with narcotics on a crime scene but "Narcan", or Naloxone, can be administered to someone who has overdosed as well. "Our tolerance is zero and having such a low tolerance, it really does not take much for an officer to lose his life," Williams said.  

As the amount of calls that involve street drugs has increased, so has an officer's preparedness. Their defensive tactics when dealing with drugs can come down to a matter of life and death.

"It's a gross, disgusting but very impactful drug that causes a great desire in many to have it again," Williams said. Drugs such as Fentanyl are becoming more and more pervasive.

So how dangerous are these drugs and how easily can you come in contact with them?  

Authorities say a person that has never taken drugs and accidentally comes across them will feel the side effects of a drug like Fentanyl before ever seeing it.  

"We can come in a lot more contact then we ever thought possible," Williams said.  

"Where a person might find themselves in contact with this type of drug, Fentanyl or Heroin, is you go to get your grocery cart and there's your grocery cart and there's a little cellophane wrapper in there and you just want to get the trash out of there so you reach in and grab it and throw it in the trash. What you didn't know, is that's how drugs are carried," Williams added.  

A person may feel sick, light headed, and depending on how much they come in contact with, the drugs can be deadly.

As easy as the counter drug is to carry, officers say some people do not want it and that worries them the most.

"Immediately after receiving something that saved their life, there's no thought that it saved their life. That realization is just not there. Instead, it's this anger of intervening on their ability to use drugs," Williams explained.

Redding Police suggest carrying rubber gloves in your first aid kit at all times in your vehicle. Naloxone is also available over the counter at pharmacies, which police suggest adding to your medical kit.

A Citra man wanted for violation of probation from another county had to be revived by a police officer and treated at a local hospital.

Officers were called to the 1400 block of Northeast 17th Avenue on Thursday in reference to a man found unresponsive in the residence by his girlfriend.

Ocala police Officer Kyle Kern arrived and noticed the victim was sweaty. He performed CPR on the man, later identified as 44-year-old Hubert Almand, until medical personnel arrived. While medical officials were tending to Almand, Kern gave the man a dose of Narcan, a nasal form of naloxone, and he woke up. Almand told officials that he was fine, but doesn’t remember anything.

Almand was transported to Florida Hospital Ocala for further treatment. Almand told medical officials that he injected heroin, according to police officials. Almand was detained pursuant to the Marchman Act, which allows authorities to initiate protective custody.

The victim’s girlfriend told Officer Michael Graham that when she arrived home, Almand was lying against the kitchen cabinet and she called 911. She said she poured water on her boyfriend, trying to wake him, but he did not respond.

The officer noted that the couple’s 3-month-old daughter was present during the incident and notified the Department of Children and Families, which said it would investigate.

At the hospital, officers checked Almand’s criminal history and discovered he’s wanted in Hillsborough County for violation of probation for one count each of uttering a false instrument, dealing in stolen property and providing false information to a pawnbroker, two counts of grand theft and 10 counts of cash or deposit item with intent to defraud. Almand was released from the hospital Friday morning and transported to the Marion County Jail.

Thursday’s Narcan incident was the 32nd time a city police officer has assisted or saved someone using the spray. Police officials said there have been 119 overdose cases with 19 deaths within the city limits of Ocala so far this year.

In February, city and police officials created an amnesty program where addicts can go to the police department, tell them they need help and they will be taken to a treatment facility for help. To date, 34 people had accepted their offer.

Campbell Police Officer Ryan Young is recovering well after being one of the four officers exposed to a powdery while drug while on the job Friday.

Now that he's recovering, he's speaking out about Issue One, asking all Ohio voters to consider his situation before voting.  

"It essentially felt like I was dying," said Young.

That's how Young described the moments after he and his fellow officers Melissa Williams, Chris Carson and Samantha Peak came into contact with what they suspect was heroin laced with fentanyl.

The situation was caught on surveillance camera in Campbell court as 34-year-old Christopher Patton allegedly handed off suboxone to his girlfriend, who was in police custody facing a felony narcotics charge.

"At that point, I ran after the gentleman that was in court because he took off running," said Young. "He got in his car and he was about to take off. I placed him in handcuffs, pulled out his wallet, ran his ID to my dispatch to let them know who we have in custody. At that point, when I touched his driver's license, it was actually covered in suspected heroin. That is what he advised us."

About ten minutes later, he began to feel the effects.

"My face started burning, tingling, I got light headed. I got a really bad headache, I started seeing white and black dots on my hands," said Young. "When Life Fleet checked my pulse, they said my numbers were off the charts for being the age I am."

Patton is booked into the Mahoning County Jail on charges of drug abuse (drug possession), illegal conveyance of weapons and driving under suspension revocation or restriction.

While he was being arrested, Young and the three other officers were being decontaminated and taken to the hospital.

"They had to shut down one of the wings in the hospital we were in," said Young. "While they were decontaminating us, one of the nurses became contaminated and started going through the symptoms we were going through as well."

Young said after being treated with Narcan to stop him from overdosing, he wants Ohio voters to consider this while at the polls and to vote no on Issue One.

"Now, if Issue One passes, they're going to allow you to carry up to 20 grams of fentanyl, crack cocaine, anything with those means," said Young. "It's only going to be a misdemeanor. Twenty grams of fentanyl can kill 10,000 people. It's not okay. I barely touched a little bit of what I believe is speculated fentanyl and it almost killed me. Imagine if 20 grams would have touched me."

While State Issue One has become a highly contentious election topic in Ohio, Young believes a no vote is necessary to keep law enforcement and others safe.

Proponents of Issue One argue the issue would provide more treatment for those with substance abuse problems, rather than jail time.

Young and the other officers affected are expected to return to work Tuesday.