A police officer was hospitalized after coming into contact with heroin while responding to a call of someone passed out in a car in McLean, Virginia, officials say.
The officer was sickened while on the job last week on the 8100 block of Watson Street, near the upscale Tysons Corner Center mall.
Fairfax County police received a call about a person passed out in a car. Medics treated someone who was unconscious and took the person to a hospital.
Officers searched the car the person had been inside, and one officer was "overcome," police said.
The officer was taken to a hospital, where it was determined that contact with heroin caused the illness. Information on the officer's condition was not known immediately.
The investigation is ongoing.
The news came as President Donald Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
Fairfax County Police Department spokesperson Julie Parker said the department is reviewing protocols on how officers respond to suspected opioid overdoses.
In June, the DEA issued a warning to law enforcement, urging caution at overdose scenes in order to avoid dangerous contact with powdered fentanyl and fentanyl/heroin mixes.
A Stafford County Sheriff’s deputy had to be treated in August with the opioid overdose drug naloxone after he began passing out an an overdose scene.
