A Flagler County deputy and a Bunnell police officer had to be treated for narcotics exposure this weekend after an arrest in Bunnell.
K-9 Deputy Gibson Smith and Bunnell police officer Jennifer Baker were at the scene after a report of a possible burglary.
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Deputies found a needle with a light brown substance in a suspect's pocket, along with a silver metal spoon with burnt residue on it.
The officers got into a fight with the man as they were trying to arrest him, and during the scuffle, Smith's glove ripped.
Then the suspect started convulsing and passed out.
A short time after, Smith and Baker started feeling ill as well.
Smith's pupils become abnormally pinpointed, his face went pale and he threw up.
Smith was given NARCAN to treat narcotics exposure and both Smith and Baker were taken to the hospital.
“Our men and women in uniform face countless dangers every day,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. “When law enforcement officers answer a call, they never really know what they are walking in to. They only know that they could be putting their life on the line to save someone else. I saw both of them at the hospital
and you could tell they had been exposed to a very dangerous narcotic, probably heroin laced with something. I am thankful that Deputy Smith and Officer Baker are going to be OK. This could have had a very different outcome.”
They have been released and are expected to be OK but might need follow up care based on what their toxicology screens show they were exposed to.