Chemicals sicken police officers at Georgia motel where dead body was found

Tim Darnell and Ryan Kruger | WXIA-TV, Atlanta

DECATUR, Ga. — Several police officers were hospitalized Saturday after responding to reports of a deceased man inside a motel in suburban Atlanta.

DeKalb County police spokeswoman Shiera Campbell says officers responding to the motel room smelled a chemical odor that began to make them sick, and three were sent to an Atlanta-area hospital to be checked out. Campbell said emergency crews evacuated the motel’s third floor.

She said the three hospitalized officers are conscious and alert.

Campbell told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that the death at the extended-stay motel is not being treated as a homicide. Police think the chemical killed the man, but they don’t know yet what chemical it is, or whether the man was exposed accidentally or on purpose.

Fire Capt. Eric Jackson said samples of a substance were recovered by a hazardous materials crew, and an autopsy will be performed by the medical examiner.

Contributing: The Associated Press