Times-Picayune
KENNER, La. — The emergency room at East Jefferson General Hospital has now been reopened, several hours after 18 police officers were brought in for treatment due to exposure to an unknown chemical that occurred during a search of a tractor trailer early this morning, authorities said.
Authorities have not released conclusive results from tests of the substance, which was stopped on Interstate 10 in St. John Parish.
Kevin Harrison, assistant special agent in charge for the DEA office in New Orleans said State Police stopped the truck with two people in it about 5 a.m.
The DEA was called after that stop and agents directed the tractor trailer to Troop B State Police headquarters off the interstate in Kenner.
Officers from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, DEA and State Police went into the back of the tractor trailer, which was carrying a load of produce, Harrison said.
The officers also discovered a number of wrapped packages in kilo sizes - a little more than 3 pounds - which is often how some drugs are packaged. Officers began to perform field tests on one of the packages, which came back with a faint trace of cocaine, Harrison said.
In the process, the officers began to feel nauseous and 18 of them were transported to East Jefferson Hosptial emergency room. Captain Emile Larson with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Division said the officers are being treated in a decontamination unit set up in the hospital parking garage. Some are recovering well, while others are still feeling woozy, Larson said.
The hospital shut down the emergency room and began directing patients to other hospitals, and then set up the contamination unit outside.
The gates to the ramp leading to the emergency room remained closed shortly after noon, with a security car and an ambulance parked in front of them. To the side of the emergency room entrance on Hudson Street, a blue decontamination tent was still inflated in a parking lot, and police uniforms in plastic bags rested in a pile.
The emergency will remain closed until the officials know exactly what is in the tractor-trailer.
Meanwhile, a JPSO hazardous materials unit was at the scene about 11 a.m. to perform a more detailed sample of the kilo packages in the truck. If the test indicates the substance is safe, the emergency room will be reopened, officials said.
“The Haz Mat team is going to get a sample and do an analysis on site. Once we determine it to be safe, our guys will go back in and finish searching the tractor trailer,” Larson said.
Just before noon, members of the team were seen in protective gear unloading what appears to be crates of produce and stacking them outside the tractor trailer.
Copyright 2009 Times-Picayune