A Florida police officer was given three doses of Narcan after she was exposed to fentanyl and collapsed during a traffic stop on Tuesday, police body camera footage shows.
Tavares Police Officer Courtney Bannick reportedly experienced the overdose after discovering narcotics inside a car she pulled over. After another officer administered Narcan to Bannick, she was hospitalized (via Fox 35 Orlando):
After pulling over a vehicle just after midnight, Officer Courtney Bannick said she discovered narcotics on a passenger inside the vehicle. Shortly after the passenger was taken into custody to be transported to the Lake County Jail, Bannick began to experience difficulty breathing, according to the police department.
Another officer who was on the scene went to check on Bannick and saw that she was drifting in and out of consciousness and required medical attention. That officer, with the assistance of another Tavares police officer and an Astatula police officer, removed Bannick from her vehicle and quickly administered Narcan, a medication used in emergency opiate overdoses. The entire incident was recorded on cameras worn by the attending police officers.
"She was completely lifeless. She looks deceased in these videos," said Tavares Police Det. Courtney Sullivan, "so she’s very thankful today."
Bannick was transported to the hospital where she is expected to make a full recovery.
Courtney Sullivan with the Tavares Police Department told NBC News that Bannick handled the narcotics the same way she always did – wearing gloves. The New York Post pointed out that the wind may have blown the drugs into her body.
"I have done this one-hundred times before the same way. It only takes one time and a minimal amount," Bannick told Fox 35. "I’m thankful I wasn’t alone and had immediate help."
"If the other officers weren’t there, there’s a very chance and probability that today would be different," Sullivan explained, adding that "and that we would be wearing our thin blue line – the straps that go over our badges."
The police department said that the person involved will likely face felony charges.