LAWRENCE, Kan. — Lawrence Police officers were at the right place and certainly the right time Thursday morning.
The department took to social media to share about an early Thursday morning encounter.
Officers carry Narcan with them daily. Thursday, they had to put it to use at a gas station bathroom on West 6th Street in Lawrence.
“Two officers were on an unrelated trespassing call outside the station about 5:30 Thursday morning and once finished, an officer went to use the restroom. That’s when he discovered a man on the floor, unresponsive,” the post reads.
Suspect charged after stabbing at business in Franklin County
Sgt. Drew Fennelly with the Lawrence, Kansas Police Department (LKPD) said administering Narcan saved a man’s life, and without it, there may be more fentanyl-related deaths.
The man, a Lawrence resident, admitted to inhaling the drug in the bathroom by way of a baby changing station.
“We are talking about the most vulnerable people in our community, with kids being placed on a changing table and the possibility that they could be exposed to fentanyl on that changing table is way irresponsible,” Sgt. Fennelly shared. “You’re placing the community at risk and it’s really unsafe.”
Sgt. Fennelly compared what took place to drinking and driving.
“In this case, with it being a changing table, in a public restroom, it’s meant for kids to have their diapers changed on.”
“The man began breathing and at the hospital told an officer his last memory was snorting the fentanyl off the baby station then going to wash his hands,” The social media post went on to say.
Kansas City creates Department of Community Safety
Sgt. Fennelly says fentanyl can affect anyone, at any age, and belonging to any socioeconomic status.
“People just hear about it, and they think that it won’t affect them because they don’t use drugs, but the prevalence of it and the amount of people using it and the population of people that are using it, it’s very wide ranging. You can’t just look at someone and go… ‘oh, that’s someone who uses fentanyl’.”
The man found unresponsive is expected to recover.
