18 officers exposed to fentanyl during raid
Eighteen Pittsburgh police officers were sickened after being exposed to fentanyl when a table covered in the opioid was overturned during a raid Wednesday morning in Elliott, authorities said.
The officers — all members of the SWAT team — were taken to UPMC Mercy to be evaluated after experiencing dizziness and numbness, city public safety spokeswoman Sonya Toler said.
All were unharmed and have been medically cleared, she said. None suffered adverse effects from the exposure, according to Michael Turturro, chief of emergency services for UPMC Mercy, who was involved in treating them.
Dr. Turturro said treatment depends on the severity of the fentanyl exposure; when law enforcement officers are exposed, usually removal from the environment is sufficient. In severe cases, an opioid blocker such as Narcan would be used, he said,
but he could not comment on whether any of the officers required such treatment.
The raid at 7 Bond St. was part of an ongoing drug investigation, Soo C. Song, acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, said in a statement. Authorities also searched properties at 1020 Lakewood Ave. and 1268 Lakewood Ave. during the operation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Pennsylvania State Police and Pittsburgh police went to the Bond Street home at 6 a.m., where they said they found four people packaging fentanyl.
The four — Lynell Guyton, 27, Calvin Armstrong, 31, Anthony Lozito, 38, and Kristen Shearer, 21 — were federally charged with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl after the raid.
When authorities entered the residence, a table with a powdery substance believed to be fentanyl was overturned, causing it to become airborne, the complaint said. At least one of the suspects knocked over the table, said Margaret Philbin, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s office. She declined to identify which suspect might have done it.
SWAT officers quickly experienced dizziness and numbness, symptoms of a potential opioid overdose, the complaint said. The officers were taken to the hospital, and a hazmat team responded to the situation.
Bob Swartzwelder, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 1, said SWAT team members typically have more protection from fentanyl than the average patrol officer, but said the officers’ exposure on Wednesday shows how dangerous the drug can be, even when officers are prepared for it.
“It’s an extreme risk to modern law enforcement in today’s climate and it’s unfortunate that while officers are doing their jobs they can be unintentionally poisoned,” he said.
More fentanyl was found elsewhere in the home. Investigators said they found more than 1,000 packaged stamp bags and about 250 grams of unpackaged narcotics inside the residence.
Mr. Lozito, who owns 7 Bond St., tried to climb out of a back window when authorities showed up, the complaint said. He later told investigators he allowed the packaging to occur in his home in exchange for drugs, the complaint said.
Mr. Guyton had been federally charged Tuesday with possession with intent to distribute 10 grams or more of a detectable amount of an analogue of fentanyl in a separate incident on or about June 1, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. During that incident, the U.S. Attorney’s office said, Mr. Guyton attempted to receive a package from Hong Kong containing about 200 grams of fentanyl.
Pittsburgh police also arrested Mr. Guyton on Aug. 2 for possession of stamp bags with intent to deliver, according to the complaint.
Mr. Armstrong and Ms. Shearer told investigators they were being paid to package the fentanyl, the complaint said.
Residents of the neighborhood said they could hear authorities as they went about executing the search warrants at the three residences.
Richard Peach said he woke to what sounded like a bomb exploding around 6 a.m. Wednesday and looked outside to see the street full of law enforcement officers.
He said they were targeting his next-door neighbor’s home at 1020 Lakewood Ave.
“We heard them on the loudspeaker, ‘This is the state police! We have a search warrant! Come out with your hands up!’ ” he said. At least one person surrendered, he added.
Around 11:40 a.m., the last of the emergency responders on the scene at Bond Street departed.
Ray Han, 71, who lives next door to the home targeted on Bond Street, said he usually rises around 4 a.m. and was sitting out on his lawn watching for deer around 6 a.m. when law enforcement officers began rolling up, so he stayed outside to watch. He said they surrounded the house and ordered everyone inside to come out. No one immediately complied, he said.
At one point, officers shot tear gas through the home’s front windows, he said, and eventually handcuffed four people. Mr. Han said he has long suspected that the people in 7 Bond St. were selling narcotics.
“They’ve been dealing drugs for 35 years,” he said.
He said the man who lived in the home did not have a job. Other neighbors said they noticed many cars going to and from the home, which sits on a dead-end street at the top of a hill.
“You can tell the kind of cars that supply,” said neighbor Barbobbette Thompson, 70. “They go up for just a few minutes and come back down, and you know.” She had noticed more police patrols in the area during the past few weeks, she added.
A man at one of the targeted homes, 1268 Lakewood Ave., declined to talk to a reporter. A woman sweeping the front porch of 1020 Lakewood St. after the raid declined to speak to a reporter on Wednesday.
Pittsburgh policy allows for city police to work with federal officials on criminal investigations, although the city keeps its officers from detaining people based solely on claims about federal immigration status. In a brief statement Wednesday, mayoral spokeswoman Katie O’Malley said the operation in the West End “involved search warrants executed as part of an ongoing drug investigation, not a detention hold.”