Sheriff’s deputy saves woman in custody from fentanyl overdose
By SDCN Editor
San Diego, CA–A Sheriff’s deputy’s quick thinking may have saved the life of a woman who was overdosing on fentanyl.
On Thursday, around 4:30 p.m., deputies spotted a car with an expired registration in the parking lot of the George Bailey Detention Facility in Otay Mesa. Deputies made contact with the two women in the car. They told deputies they were picking up property for someone. When the deputies asked the women if they had been arrested before, they both said yes. A search of their car uncovered a white substance inside one of the women’s purses that tested positive for fentanyl.
That woman was arrested for possession of drugs on jail grounds.
While transporting her to the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility in Santee just after 5:30 p.m., a deputy noticed the woman was showing signs of a fentanyl overdose. She pulled her patrol car over to check on the woman’s condition. She admitted to the deputy she had taken some of the fentanyl in her purse and maybe overdosed. The deputy turned on her patrol car’s emergency lights and sirens and began driving toward the closest hospital in Chula Vista.
Noticing the woman’s symptoms were getting worse, the deputy pulled over and administered a single dose of Naloxone to the woman. Naloxone is a nasal spray that rapidly reverses and blocks the effects of opioids or narcotics in the body so a person can breathe normally again.
Once the deputy gave the woman Naloxone, she requested an ambulance to take the victim to the hospital. Within minutes, paramedics arrived and rushed her to the Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center.
All Sheriff’s deputies (patrol and detentions) have access to Naloxone. The spray has also been placed inside all Sheriff’s Detention Facilities should people in-custody need to administer the medication to someone experiencing an opioid overdose.
