Three Arlington, Washington police officers were hospitalized after being exposed to heroin officials say was likely laced with fentanyl.
The officers responded to the Arlington Motor Inn on Monday to serve an arrest warrant and came face-to-face with a woman smoking heroin in a second-story room, according to KING-TV.
Arlington spokesperson Kristin Banfield said that the woman began blowing the smoke toward the officers, who detained her and were able to get the heroin away from her.
The two officers -- two men and one woman -- returned to the police department, but within 30 minutes it was clear something was wrong.
"They started exhibiting symptoms of exposure, direct exposure to the heroin smoke," Banfield said. "So they started experiencing nausea, headaches, just feeling very lethargic and sluggish and then they started getting violently ill."
The officers were rushed to nearby Cascade Valley Hospital for medical evaluation and decontamination and were released from the hospital Monday evening. All three officers have since returned to work.
While officials believe the heroin they were exposed to was laced with fentanyl, tests are underway to confirm what the drug contained.
"Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin," Banfield said. "You can absorb it through your skin, and the absorption is very quick. So it's very scary for our officers."
