Washington County deputies treat overdose victims in vehicles

Twice last weekend, Washington County deputies acted quickly to save the lives of people overdosing on heroin, a not uncommon occurrence as the use of heroin has spiked in the last few years.

However, in both cases, the victims were in vehicles traveling through the county.

Friday evening, a 60year-old Rubicon man who had scored heroin in Milwaukee overdosed in the vehicle of a 35year-old woman as they drove back to Fond du Lac County. Early Sunday, a 28-year-old Waupun man lost consciousness in a car traveling through Germantown.

“It’s amazing to me. I started 23 years ago and these types of overdoses occurred but not nearly with the frequency we’re seeing in the last five to six years,” Washington County Sheriff’s Capt. Martin Schulteis said. “Heroin is an offshoot of prescribed opiates like Vicodin. It seems like the next leap is heroin, which is not nearly as forgiving.”

At 9 p.m. Friday, a motorist noticed a vehicle being driven erratically on northbound Interstate 41 near County Highway K and called the Sheriff’s Department. When a deputy stopped the vehicle, the deputy noticed the passenger was unconscious and breathing shallowly. After calling for a rescue squad, the deputy administered a dose of naloxone nasal spray, often called Narcan, to the 60-year-old man in the passenger seat. A second dose was given to him after paramedics arrived.

The man was taken to a hospital in Hartford where he regained consciousness and admitted to snorting heroin in Milwaukee. The 35year-old Fond du Lac woman driving the vehicle was cited for drunken driving. She also admitted to using heroin. Drug paraphernalia was found inside the vehicle.

Then 29 hours later another heroin overdose was reported in a vehicle traveling on I-41. The driver of the vehicle was told to pull off I-41 to a commercial parking lot at Holy Hill Road where a deputy found a passenger, a 28-year-old Waupun man, unconscious and breathing weakly.

Three doses of Narcan were administered to the overdose victim by Germantown police and the Washington County sheriff’s deputy and within minutes the victim was alert. Germantown police are investigating the incident.

With the rise in heroin overdoses, many law enforcement agencies are training their officers to detect symptoms and administer life-saving doses of Narcan.

“You’re having individuals get hooked on prescription meds and then they move on to heroin. I think there’s a public awareness of that problem now. Whether that translates into mitigation, only time will tell,” Schulteis said.