Heroin: Spring Valley cops revive man after overdose

SPRING VALLEY – A Stony Point man suffering through a heroin overdose survived when two police officers forced an antidote into his lungs, authorities said.

Officers Ely Ungar and Jorge Marciano found the 32-year-old unconscious with labored and shallow breathing on a floor at the Kennedy Arms Apartments at 11:06 p.m. Sunday, Spring Valley police Lt. Jack Bosworth said.

A nasal dose of Naloxone helped the man regain consciousness. Spring Hill Ambulance Corps took the man to Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, where medical personnel treated him, Bosworth said. The man has since been discharged.

Narcan, the commercial name for the Naloxone nasal spray, is a life-saver for people who overdose on opioids - which include heroin.

Narcan has been distributed to Lower Hudson Valley police departments in response to the epidemic of heroin overdoses and deaths. Although it is widely known for its ability to treat heroin or morphine overdoses, the drug also can counter legally prescribed opioids like fentanyl and other narcotics.

Police across the Lower Hudson Valley have been trained to administer the antidote. The Rockland Paramedic Services Inc. has done extensive training, while the state Attorney General's Office has supplied the drug.

Sunday's incident marked the third time Spring Valley police used the antidote.

Bosworth said that on April 22 Spring Valley officers and Rockland paramedics used Narcan to save a 78-year-old woman on Fletcher Road who went into cardiac arrest from an apparent accidental overdose of prescription opioids.

In October, the police and paramedics saved an unconscious Orangetown man, 21, locked inside of a bathroom at a North Main Street home.

At the same time, federal officials and local law enforcement have cracked down on the illegal sales of opoid prescription drugs and heroin.

Twitter: @lohudlegal