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Accidental Fentanyl Exposure Feared for Old Saybrook Police Officer

During an investigation of a suspicious person this morning, Old Saybrook Police Officer Christopher Palmieri was accidentally exposed to a drug suspected to be fentanyl. He was hospitalized and released.

At 10:30 a.m., Old Saybrook Police Department (OSPD) officers responded to a report of a suspicious person behind Walt’s Food Market on Main Street. They arrived to find a man behind the building who claimed to have dropped off an employee at the market and was waiting to speak to that person again, according to the OSPD.

“The male possessed drug paraphernalia on his person and was detained,” according to information released by the OSPD.

OSPD’s police K-9 searched the man’s vehicle for narcotics and alerted the officers to its possible presence. According to WSFB Eyewitness News 3, which first reported the incident, a bag of what appeared to be drugs was found and a wind blew some of the power into Palmieri’s face.

“He was immediately treated by police officers on scene and transported to the Middlesex Medical Center Shoreline” in Westbrook, according to the OSPD.

Palmieri has been released and is back on duty.

Stephen Allen Johnson, age 36, of Westbrook was arrested and charged with narcotics violations. Johnson admitted to recently snorting fentanyl, according to the OSPD. The investigation is active and ongoing.

“This incident sadly exemplifies the dangers that police officers face every day,” said Old Saybrook Police Chief Michael A. Spera. “We are extremely thankful that Patrolman Christopher Palmieri is fine and will return to active duty.”

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), incidents like this can be deadly for first responders.

In a DEA video released in 2016 to police departments across the country, then-acting director Jack Riley explained that fentanyl, which is sold on the street across the United States, is “40 to 50 times stronger than street-level heroin. A very small amount ingested, or absorbed through your skin, can kill you.”

According to a June 2016 press release by the DEA, “The onset of adverse health effects, such as disorientation, coughing, sedation, respiratory distress or cardiac arrest is very rapid and profound, usually occurring within minutes of exposure. Canine units are particularly at risk of immediate death from inhaling fentanyl.”