The News-Sentinel
BLUFFTON, Ind. — An Indiana State Police trooper is being credited with saving the life of a man who allegedly was overdosing on heroin Wednesday.
Trooper Anthony Repass and Wells County Sheriff’s Department deputies responded to a call at 3:28 p.m. after Wells County Dispatch broadcast about a fight going on in a home in the 8700 block of south Indiana 1 in rural Bluffton. Repass and the deputies arrived about five minutes later to find 26-year-old Josh L. Miller, who they learned was wanted, inside home, according to an ISP news release.
According to online information, Miller was wanted on charges of probation violation and failure to return to lawful detention. He was arrested but as he was being walked though the house, his legs began to shake and he started to collapse. Repass and Deputy Jeremy Heckel helped Miller to the floor.
Miller then went into a convulsion as officers took off the handcuffs and moved furniture out of his way. When the convulsion stopped, Miller told Repass that he had recently taken heroin, then slipped in and out of consciousness, according to the release. When Miller became unresponsive, Repass put recent training to use and used a nasal spray dose of Narcan (naloxone) on Miller. Narcan blocks the effects of opioids and reverses an overdose. Miller started breathing and became more alert and active and was taken to a Bluffton hospital for further treatment.
Repass received training and was issued a Narcan kit within the past month, according to the news release. The number of heroin overdoses in the state more than doubled from 2011 to 2013, according to statistics provided by state Attorney General Greg Zoeller’s office. People addicted to prescription painkillers whose supply is suddenly cut off are turning to heroin, according to Zoeller’s office. Emergency responders across the state, including Fort Wayne Fire Department firefighters, are being trained to administer Narcan.