VIDEO: Florida Police Nearly Die of Overdose After Exposure to Fentanyl Wrapped in a Dollar
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Officer Courtney Bannick loses consciousness twice and nearly dies, despite handling a dose of fentanyl rolled inside a dollar bill with gloves.
A Florida police officer received three doses of Narcan after she was exposed to fentanyl and reportedly overdosed during a traffic stop Tuesday.
A video shows Tavares officer Courtney Bannick receiving the drug to reverse an opioid overdose as she lay motionless on the side of a street shortly after midnight.
Bannick found narcotics, which police believe contained the deadly drug, in a rolled dollar bill inside the vehicle she and the other officers pulled over, according to local reports.
Soon after, he began to have difficulty breathing.
Another officer on the scene heard her choking and gasping over his radio and approached. He found her losing consciousness and requiring immediate medical attention, the Tavares Police Department said in a statement obtained by Click Orlando.
That officer and two others placed Bannick on the ground and quickly administered Narcan.
She was brought back and was speaking before losing consciousness again and appearing to have stopped breathing, body camera video released by the department shows.
“He was completely lifeless. She looks dead in these videos,” Tavares Police Detective Courtney Sullivan told Fox 35 Orlando. “So she's very grateful today.”
In all, officers gave Bannick three doses of Narcan before an ambulance arrived and took her to an area hospital. She is expected to make a full recovery.
Officials believe that Bannick, who wore gloves when handling the narcotics, may have been exposed due to wind blowing the drugs into her system. The officers planned to test the substance at the station and not at the scene because it was very windy.
“I've done this 100 times before in the same way. It is only needed once and a minimal amount,” Bannick said. “I am grateful that I was not alone and had immediate help.”
She requested that the alarming video be released to raise awareness of the dangers of fentanyl.
“If the other officers weren't there, there's a very high probability that today would be different and we'd wear our thin blue line, the straps that go over our insignia,” Sullivan said, referring to the protocol when an officer is killed in the line of duty. his duty.
People who were stopped by officers and allegedly had the drugs in their possession face possible felony charges. Their names have not been released because they have not yet been charged, the department said.