Stanislaus County deputy saves a man suffering from fentanyl overdose. Watch it on video
A distressed man survived a life-threatening fentanyl overdose thanks to the deputy who responded to the call, according to a Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office video released Tuesday.
Deputy Pedro Ramirez’s body camera recorded the May 9 incident as he identified what was wrong with the man in an orchard off East Whitmore Avenue. Hughson Police Services was dispatched on a report that a subject was walking in the middle of East Whitmore, blocking traffic.
Arriving at the scene, Ramirez found the subject on private orchard property. As the deputy talked with the subject, the man made confusing comments and ultimately told the deputy he had taken fentanyl. It became clear the man was having trouble breathing.
Ramirez asked the dispatch center for an expedited response from the closest emergency units. On the video, Ramirez is shown trying to calm the man down. He administers two doses of Narcan in an attempt to reverse the deadly effects of fentanyl.
The man was placed in an ambulance by emergency responders. The Sheriff’s Office’s text on the video says he was rushed to a hospital for treatment and made a full recovery.
It was one encouraging ending in a county that recorded 138 deaths due to fentanyl overdose or poisoning in 2023. The county did not see an obvious slowdown in the mortality numbers in the first half of this year.
“(Deputy Ramirez) did a great job recognizing the subject was suffering from drug intoxication and provided him with the needed help,” said Sheriff’s Office spokesman David Mullins, chief of Waterford Police Services. “If he had not acted like that, quite possibly the person would not have survived.”
Mullins said the advanced training for Stanislaus deputies includes newer techniques helping them tell the difference between mental illness and drug intoxication.
