STAFFORD, Va. — Authorities say a sheriff’s deputy in Virginia suffered an accidental overdose after arresting two people on drug charges.
Deputy A.C. Wolford was visiting a hospital to interview a suspect he had just arrested in a drug case when he started slurring his words.
“One of the nurses inside the hospital actually had to hold on to him and put him down into a wheelchair,” said First Lt. Eric Quinn.
Quinn says it looks like the deputy either inhaled or touched the drug Fentanyl.
“We’re not sure exactly if he inhaled it or if it was absorbed through his skin,” Quinn said. “They quickly treated him with Narcan (naloxone), which reverses the effects of an opiate overdose.”
“We’re thankful that this happened at the hospital,” Quinn added.
Wolford is expected back at work Monday.
Quinn says its the first unintentional opioid overdose he’s aware of involving a member of his office.
“It’s really an eye-opener,” Quinn said.
Deputies from the Stafford Sheriff’s Office had been dispatched Wednesday morning to a school parking lot, where they found two people unconscious in a van, one with a syringe sticking out of an arm.
Twenty-nine-year-old Samantha Stoudt of Woodbridge and 40-year-old David Michael Chambers of Occoquan, were both charged with possession of a controlled substance.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
