Hazard police warn of ‘deadly’ substance after string of overdoses, officer illnesses
The Hazard Police Department issued a warning to the public Saturday, saying it is investigating a series of overdoses involving a dangerous substance that is believed to have left three people dead and sent others, including two police officers, to the hospital.
“Please use caution if you see any substance that is not easily recognizable because whatever this is, it is deadly,” the police department said in a Facebook post Saturday.
Police said they “have obtained the substance that is suspected in the deaths and overdoses and should know by Monday evening what it is.” They said they suspect it contains fentanyl or carfentanil.
While processing the substance, Hazard police said two of their officers became ill and were treated at ARH.
Police said the three people who died were found early Thursday, after police received a call about suspected overdoses in an apartment in Gorman Hollow.
When they arrived, police said they found three people dead and a fourth person who needed medical attention. That person was taken to Hazard ARH Regional Medical Center.
After that, police said they learned of at least eight more overdoses, though none of them has been fatal. They said Saturday that there had been “no further overdoses in the city have occurred in the last 24 hours that we are aware of.”
Hazard police said they contacted the Drug Enforcement Agency Thursday and have been working with them since then on a “large scale drug investigation.”
