More than a dozen first responders were treated for suspected exposure to an unknown drug during a welfare check at a Largo apartment complex Thursday evening, police said.
The events began about 6:10 p.m., when a woman called Largo police to report that her boyfriend was acting irrationally in their apartment on Glades Circle, which is in the Oasis at Bayside Apartments on Ulmerton Road just west of 66th Street, police said.
“He was pacing, screaming, smoking marijuana and just talking gibberish,” Largo police Chief Mike Loux said during a news conference at the complex.
Three Largo police officers responded. When the woman opened the door, they saw Richard Charles, 30, behind her. He was naked and began to “aggressively” approach the apartment door and his girlfriend from behind with his fists clenched, Loux said.
The officers told the woman to step out of the apartment for her safety and then went inside to take Charles into custody. The officers struggled with Charles and asked for more officers to respond. Police were able to take him into custody and asked fire rescue to come to the apartment.
One of the officers “felt the effects of a narcotic and passed out,” Loux said.
Another officer administered Narcan, a medication used to reverse the effects of opioids, to the officer, which appeared to revive him, according to Loux.
A paramedic who came into the apartment and two of the officers who had taken Charles into custody also started feeling the effects of the drug, as did two more officers who rode in the ambulance to the hospital with Charles and two more medics in that ambulance, Loux said.
In all, four officers and three paramedics were treated at the hospital for the suspected drug exposure, and six more first responders were treated for symptoms at the scene, Loux said.
Charles was also treated at the hospital.
“They all seem to be coherent, talking, and they seem to be on the path to an easy, hopefully, recovery,” Loux said.
In an update Friday morning, the Largo Police Department said all the first responders who were taken to the hospital had been released and were recovering. Investigators were still working to identify what substance was involved.
Largo Fire Rescue’s hazardous materials team responded to decontaminate the personnel and equipment at the scene and confirm the air inside the apartment was safe. The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office’s clandestine drug team also responded to investigate.
Records show Charles was arrested Thursday night on a charge of battery on a health service professional and booked into the Pinellas County Jail, where he was being held Friday morning without bond. Additional charges could be forthcoming, Largo police said.
No residents were evacuated during the incident, which was contained to Charles’ apartment, the chief said.
Pinellas County’s 911 call site showed more than three dozen units at the scene at one point.
Experts say that while fentanyl and other synthetic opioids can be very powerful, the risk to first responders is extremely low. Incidental skin contact with the drug is unlikely to cause opioid toxicity, according a 2017 position paper by the American College of Medical Toxicity and the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology.
“For routine handling of (the) drug, nitrile gloves provide sufficient dermal protection,” the paper said. “In exceptional circumstances where there are drug particles or droplets suspended in the air, an N95 respirator provides sufficient protection.”
