ORLANDO, Fla. — Three Orange County deputies had to be taken to a hospital for fentanyl exposure while transporting a suspect Tuesday afternoon.
- Deputies were transporting a suspect on drug charges
- Suspect was given Narcan after showing drug overdose signs
- Deputies, suspect expected to be OK
The Orange County Sheriff's Office said suspect Joseph Villanueva was first arrested on drug charges at a hotel next to a Circle K gas station off East Colonial Drive and Woodbury Road.
“Where the building is, that's where they got him. He was inside the complex being loud, they called the cops,” said witness David Montes.
Montes said deputies questioned him and took some items out their patrol car to test some type of a substance.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office says the deputies were taking Villanueva to jail when he began showing signs of a drug overdose.
The deputies pulled over to the Circle K gas station next to hotel, just west of Challenger Parkway, and gave Villanueva Narcn. They also requested additional units, as well as Orange County Fire Rescue.
But then the deputies began to feel the effects of exposure to fentanyl.
The deputies and Villanueva were all taken to an area hospital as a precaution and are expected to be OK.
Orange County Sheriff John Mina tweeted this statement Tuesday evening:
According to the Centers for Disease Control, it is possible to be exposed to fentanyl through "inhalation, mucous membrane contact, ingestion, and percutaneous exposure" such as being stuck by a needle.
The synthetic opioid is 50 times stronger than heroin.
A similar incident happened to a Flagler County deputy earlier this month, while helping a Bunnell police officer arrest a burglary suspect.
Last May, a deputy and a firefighter in Lake County had to be hospitalized because of fentanyl exposure, after reportedly finding narcotics during a traffic stop.