VIDEO: South Carolina Cop Collapses After Fentanyl Exposure During Traffic Stop

A South Carolina sheriff’s deputy collapsed after touching a minuscule amount of a suspect’s fentanyl stash during a traffic stop — the incident caught on police body cam footage.

In the dramatic video, a fellow deputy responds to the female Berkeley County Sheriff’s deputy — after she shouts “I need Narcan, I need Narcan” — moments before the powerful opioid lays her out on the ground where she begins shaking and whimpering.

Warning — Disturbing content:

The other deputy reassures the terrified deputy with, “I got you,” as he administers two doses of the opioid rescue drug he finds after a frantic search in her squad car.

The incident took place on the side of the road near Bonneau, about 60 miles north of Charleston, in what police say has become an on-the-job hazard around the U.S.

A report obtained by Charleston’s WCSC News revealed the dramatic police call took place Saturday afternoon after sheriff’s deputies responded to a tip that a woman in a black SUV was passed out behind the wheel.

Officers were able get into the locked car and awaken the woman, who claimed she pulled over after almost hitting a deer but had no explanation why she had fallen asleep.

The female deputy then searched the woman and found a plastic bag with an “unknown substance” and a folded-up dollar bill that also contained a substance.

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In the video, the suspect denies anything is in the bill, but after the deputy touches it, she quickly realizes she is now in an overdose emergency, telling the other deputy to fetch the Narcan from her squad car.

Narcan is the brand name for naloxone, which when injected can negate the effects of an opioid overdose. The deputy was soon out of danger after the injections and was taken to the hospital and released.

The local sheriff later said normally the deputy would be wearing protective gloves during such call but likely did not have them on because of the excessive heat that day.

Police later reported that inside the folded-up dollar bill was approximately 0.01 grams of a “brown powder-like substance” that field tested presumptive for fentanyl.

Accidental exposure to the powerful drug by on-duty police has become increasingly widespread, authorities say, with numerous incidents around the U.S. airing on local news feeds and YouTube in recent years.

Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.