Seattle police say they've saved 3 people with overdose drug

SEATTLE — Seattle police say bicycle officers have saved three people from potentially fatal heroin overdoses since they started carrying an overdose reversal drug in mid-March.

The most recent case came at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, when officers Matt Newsome and Dick Bonesteel saw a 61-year-old man lying in an alley. He had stopped breathing and was foaming at the mouth, and there was an orange hypodermic needle cap beside him.

The department says the officers administered the drug, known as Narcan or naloxone, and the man began breathing again, opened his eyes and started talking.

Last month, officers gave the lifesaving drug to a 33-year-old man who was passed out in a Capitol Hill doorway and to a 21-year-old woman who had stopped breathing after shooting heroin in a Westlake Mall bathroom.

The department is considering having all officers carry Narcan.

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Associated Press