For the sixth time since SPD officers began carrying Naloxone in March, police have used the drug to prevent a potentially fatal overdose.
Officers Kevin Oshikawa-Clay and Carry Godeke were patrolling Belltown around 1:30 PM Thursday when they received a report that a woman was overdosing in a parking lot under the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
Oshikawa-Clay and Godeke arrived at the lot, near Western Avenue and Blanchard Street, and found a witness performing CPR on a woman on the ground.
The woman, believed to be about 25, was struggling to breathe, had turned pale and had fresh injection marks on her arm.
Oshikawa-Clay–who, in addition to being a police officer, is also a certified Emergency Medical Technician–administered a dose of Naloxone nasal spray to the woman. Her breathing stabilized over the next few minutes, and she was able to walk to a Seattle Fire Department aid car under her own power. Seattle Fire EMTs provided the woman with oxygen and transported her to Harborview Medical Center.
This incident will become part of the ongoing study conducted by the University of Washington into SPD’s use of Naloxone, for a possible department-wide expansion of the program.
As a reminder, Washington law provides immunity from criminal drug possession charges for anyone seeking medical aid for themselves or someone else experiencing an overdose.