On July 23 Healdsburg Police Officer Frank Patane made a suspected fentanyl arrest after a traffic stop for a vehicle code violation in Healdsburg.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine and can be extremely dangerous and lethal if handled without the proper personal protective equipment.
In this case the passenger of the vehicle, 25-year-old Stephen Nicholas Lewis of Monte Rio, was found to be in possession of 7.8 grams of suspected fentanyl.
The driver of the vehicle, 38-year-old Celina Maria Woods of Santa Rosa, was on pretrial release with search terms and a search of Lewis’ belongings found drug paraphernalia and the suspected fentanyl, according to a statement from the Healdsburg Police Department (HPD).
Lewis was subsequently arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance and transported to the Sonoma County Jail. Woods was cited for driving without a valid license and was released.
This has not been the department’s first brush with the dangerous controlled substance. In the past two weeks, HPD officers have handled two suspected cases of fentanyl overdose, both of which required immediate medical attention and the use of Narcan, an opioid suppressing nasal spray that blocks the opioid receptors in the brain.
On July 7, Healdsburg dispatch received a call that a man had overdosed on fentanyl. Officers responded to the scene and found the man unresponsive with no pulse. They subsequently administered Narcan and the subject regained his pulse and was transported to Healdsburg District Hospital according to HPD.
On July 17, dispatch received another call reporting a fentanyl overdose. Officers arrived on scene and administered two doses of Narcan and CPR. After the Healdsburg Fire Department arrived on scene the man began to respond to treatment and was transported to Healdsburg District Hospital.
With the help of a $2,000 grant from the state department of health services in 2019, the Healdsburg Police Department secured 24 Narcan kits expected to last the department two years.
The department’s first use of the nasal spray occurred in October 2018 when officers were called to the scene at the Vine Street Safeway to revive a 35-year-old man who was found unconscious in the store’s bathroom.
Responding HPD Officers Craig Smith and Hubbell Richmond were able to administer CPR and the nasal spray and were able to revive the subject within minutes.
The second instance of an apparent fentanyl overdose occurred just a month later when a man was found unconscious in a Healdsburg CVS bathroom. Upon arrival, responding officers Rosendo Castro and Darryl Erkel administered two doses of the nasal spray and were able to revive the unconscious man.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2016 alone, 180,000 deaths were attributed to fentanyl overdose. According to the California Department of Public Health in 2017, there were 26 opioid-related deaths in Sonoma County (5.1 deaths per 100,000 people).
Healdsburg Police Chief Kevin Burke told The Tribune following the November, 2018 CVS incident, “This is probably the new norm and I am glad we have this necessary tool to help. The opioid epidemic doesn’t seem to be going away and it definitely is here in Healdsburg.”
