What started as a medical emergency when a Mesa officer was found unresponsive in his running patrol car, has turned into a criminal case.
A Mesa police officer overdosed on fentanyl while on duty. Will that shock Arizona awake?
Opinion: A Mesa police officer overdosed on fentanyl in his patrol car. Is this the incident that finally shakes Arizona awake to the opioid epidemic?
21 Aug 2023
"Every major crisis has a moment that jerks people awake, that knocks them from their slumber and forces them to focus.
We may have had such a moment with fentanyl in Arizona.
A Mesa police officer overdosed on the drug in his patrol car and was found unconscious with his engine running and doors locked.
The car was in the middle of the street. Rescuers had to bust a window to save his life.
It was a story like this that grabbed a nation’s attention in 2017. . .
We may have had such a moment with fentanyl in Arizona.
A Mesa police officer overdosed on the drug in his patrol car and was found unconscious with his engine running and doors locked.
The car was in the middle of the street. Rescuers had to bust a window to save his life.
It was a story like this that grabbed a nation’s attention in 2017. . .
Arizona is a hub for fentanyl trafficking
West Virginia continues to lead the nation in overdose mortality, with 91 deaths per 100,000 population, according to CDC rankings.
- (Arizona is 17th with 39 deaths per 100,000.)
Both News Nation and Fox News report that Arizona is the hub of fentanyl smuggling in the United States, with more than 51% of the drug passing through our state.
With numbers like that, it is no surprise that Arizona would see absurd examples of social breakdown that shook West Virginia and the nation.
On Friday we learned a bystander found Mesa Police Officer Christopher Jenkins unconscious in his patrol car and apparently suffering a seizure.
Jenkins’ car was in the middle of the street, as reported by The Arizona Republic’s Ellie Willard. His doors were locked and his foot was on the brake with the engine idling.
Mesa officer had 3 drugs in his system
Jenkins’ fellow officers arrived and had to bust through the window to get to him. They administered CPR and Narcan, an opioid overdose antidote, until they were finally able to bring him back to consciousness, Willard reported.
At first, Mesa Police feared Jenkins had been exposed to fentanyl confiscated in a bust that same day. Jenkins had placed some of the fentanyl from the arrest into evidence but still had powdered fentanyl in the passenger compartment in his car, Willard reported.
At first, Mesa Police feared Jenkins had been exposed to fentanyl confiscated in a bust that same day. Jenkins had placed some of the fentanyl from the arrest into evidence but still had powdered fentanyl in the passenger compartment in his car, Willard reported.
Eventually, hospital tests revealed Jenkins had not only fentanyl, but cocaine and marijuana in his system. Soon he was under investigation.
- All of this happened in May.
Not long after, Jenkins was charged with two felonies and two misdemeanors and made his first court appearance.
- Mesa P.D. reassigned him on May 25, and he formally resigned from the police force on June 1.
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