Terrifying moment when a Florida deputy exposed to fentanyl collapses in bodycam footage before being rescued by Narcan
A Florida cop’s body camera captured the moment he saved another deputy from exposure to fentanyl — during a routine traffic stop where the officer collapsed after administering an on-site dust test.
Identified as Flagler County Sheriff’s Deputy Nick Huzior, the sheriff is now on the mend – thanks in part to his fellow officer’s quick thinking.
The incident happened around 3.45pm on Thursday, after Huzior pulled over 61-year-old George Clemons for fleeing a hit-and-run in nearby Bunnell and took off at 11 State Road, causing several near misses.
Clemons is now out on bail despite a slew of drunk driving and drug charges, but eventually dropped out – at which point police came upon him, still sitting in the red SUV, in the driver’s seat, with the keys out of the ignition and under his legs.
Huzior and other deputies immediately spotted a pile of narcotics, as well as an empty Bud Light can and a mini-bottle of alcohol in plain sight, police said.
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A Florida cop’s body camera captured the moment he saved another deputy from exposure to fentanyl — during a routine traffic stop where the cop collapsed after texting at the scene
Identified as Flagler County Sheriff’s Deputy Nick Huzior, the sheriff is now on the mend – thanks in part to his fellow officer’s quick thinking
The incident happened around 3.45pm on Thursday, after Huzior apprehended 61-year-old George Clemons for fleeing a hit and run in nearby Bunnell. Now facing a litany of drunk driving and drug charges, Clemons is currently out on $24,500 bail, records show
The footage released by the Sheriff’s Office on Friday begins shortly after Clemons declined Huzior’s request for a sobriety test, urging him to test one of the drugs – a powdery white substance – at the scene.
Almost immediately, the officer – who was wearing PPE but was still overwhelmed by the overdose-causing drug – succumbs to the synthetic opioid, which is more than 100 times more potent than morphine.
“I feel light-headed,” he is heard to tell Deputy First Class Kyle Gaddie in the first-person footage, which shows a series of pills, marijuana, and unspecified powders strewn across an area already covered by this point. arrested Clemons’ hood.
“Call the ambulance,” the officer adds, breathlessly.
When he tells Gaddie that he is feeling light-headed, shaky and losing the feeling of his arms and legs, the deputy is seen losing his balance – urging his senior officer to get out of his car, where he was previously parked for a traffic control.
Knowing that the narcotics Huzior had been testing could contain fentanyl – a deadly synthetic drug now used by sellers to make other drugs more potent – Gaddie donated a dose of Narcan, a drug used to reverse the effects of a fentanyl overdose. to turn.
Despite the precaution, Huzior’s condition persists for several minutes, prompting Gaddie to give his comrade a second dose.
As this is happening, Gaddie is seen crouching steadfastly next to Huzior, whispering words of encouragement.
At one point, he asks Huzior how he feels – to which the deputy replies that he feels “dizzy.”
“I feel really dizzy,” he says, before finally being transported to a nearby hospital. “My heart is beating really fast.”
The footage begins after Clemons finally stopped at a traffic stop at 11 State Road – at which point police came across him sitting in his red SUV. Inside, the police found a bevy of drugs, pills, alcohol and other substances. Clemons was handcuffed for refusing a sobriety test
Fentanyl – about 100 times more potent than morphine – is responsible for about 100,000 deaths per year in the US, not counting deaths abroad.
Over the past eight years, the opioid on the southern border has been increasingly funneled into the country – with some 8,400 kilograms of the overdose-inducing drug seized by 2022.
During that time, an estimated 325,000 people in the US died from overdoses of synthetic opioids, such as those sold by the raided Mexican stores, which experts say are almost always made from fentanyl.
Aside from being much more potent than others on the black market, the drug is mass-produced by Mexican cartels, who make it from chemical precursors smuggled in from China, then press it into pills designed to look like as other medicines.
The practice is illegal and has been on the radar of federal authorities for nearly a year, according to statements by the State Department and other US groups.