COLUMBIA — After opening a small box containing syringes and baggies of a white powder during a call to a business, Richland Deputy Shannon Huffman started to feel her legs go numb.
She told her corporal over the phone, “Sir, I think I’ve been exposed,” as she walked out of the building and fell on the grass. It became hard for her to breathe.
Huffman was rushed to the hospital Oct. 22 for suspected exposure to fentanyl, an opioid 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Just a small amount can be fatal.
Huffman is one of three Richland County Sheriff deputies who were hospitalized for fentanyl exposure within a nine-month period, prompting Sheriff Leon Lott to rethink drug-safety precautions for his employees.
A second exposure in June prompted Lott to stock up on the life-saving opioid reversal drug naloxone, requesting more than 400 nasal spray kits to make sure all deputies on patrol have the medicine on hand.
Now, Lott said he’s looking into better gloves to prevent drugs from coming into contact with their skin. While experts debate whether fentanyl can cause an overdose reaction by touch, Lott said he is going to “err on the side of caution.”
The other two deputies who were exposed both received several doses of naloxone, also known by the name brand Narcan, when they fell in and out of consciousness. Exactly how the deputies each were exposed remains a mystery, Lott said. Cases where first responders have been exposed are considered rare, although another deputy recently reported exposure in the Upstate.
Huffman said she was exposed and had a reaction to fentanyl twice in October. The second came as she was released from the hospital and put her vest back on.
Huffman was responding to a civil disturbance call at Mark Anthony Brewing off Shop Road, where staff found a box of narcotics in an employee's storage locker. Huffman, wearing a mask at the time for COVID prevention, put on latex gloves and opened the box. She saw syringes and small baggies with a white powdery substance, which later tested positive for fentanyl.
She tried to radio the deputy outside to tell him to detain the employee. The signal wasn’t coming through, so she called her corporal using her phone.
Even though she was wearing a mask, Huffman says she may have inhaled the substance. First, she felt her legs go numb.
“As I was walking out, I couldn’t feel my legs,” Huffman said. “My legs weren’t there.”
She said walked out of the building and collapsed on the grass. She started having trouble breathing.
“In my head I was trying to breathe, but I couldn't breathe,” Huffman said. “I couldn’t get enough oxygen in.”
Deputy Justin Kinney, who was at the scene with Huffman, wrote in an incident report that she “appeared white in the face and was struggling to breathe, taking several short breaths and coughing aggressively.”
“Deputy Huffman fell to her hands and feet in the front lawn of the business, and continued to cough and gasp for air,” Kinney wrote. “Deputy Huffman was sweating profusely and complaining of a headache.”
Michaela Almgren, clinical associate professor at the University of South Carolina’s College of Pharmacy, said Huffman’s symptoms are in line with opioid exposure.
“I definitely would agree that she suffered from the hallmark signs of opioid overdose,” Almgren said.
Huffman was taken to the hospital and released after a few hours. She didn’t undergo a blood or urine test to confirm her exposure. She said doctors told her to let the drug run its course.
As she was leaving the hospital with her corporal, she put her vest on and started to feel lightheaded and her legs started to go numb. She told her corporal, who suspected traces of fentanyl were on her vest and pulled it off.
Some people have been skeptical of Huffman’s experience and have asked whether she had a panic attack.
“It’s a very serious thing,” Huffman said. “I don’t think it’s anxiety for any of us.”
Around five grains of salt worth of pure fentanyl can cause an overdose, Almgren said.
“Fentanyl is really, really potent,” Almgren said. “We’re talking a couple milligrams can cause an overdose.”
Tara Moore, supervisor of drug identification at the Sheriff’s Department laboratory, said most fentanyl samples she tests are cut with other substances, making them less potent. How much would cause a strong reaction or overdose isn't clear, she said. It would depend on the drug mixture as well as the person’s tolerance to opioids.
“A lot of the substances we see are not in pure form, even when they’re trafficked, especially the fentanyl because it’s so potent,” Moore said. “They’re cut so heavily that five grains of that isn’t going to be the same as five grains of pure fentanyl.”
On June 6, another Richland County deputy was taken to the hospital after a suspected fentanyl exposure.
Deputy Zaid Abdullah stopped a vehicle and detained the driver on an outstanding warrant. Abdullah was doing a routine inventory check of the man’s vehicle before it was towed. He opened the glove box and found a baggie of a crystalline substance.
Though he was wearing gloves, Abdullah began to go in and out of consciousness. He received three doses of Narcan but struggled to remain conscious and was rushed to the hospital.
Moore said she tested the drugs found by Abdullah. It was methamphetamine. No traces of fentanyl were found.
While the drugs tested positive for methamphetamine, a stimulant, Lott said the deputy had a reaction as if he were exposed to an opioid. The sheriff said the suspect told people that he had purchased fentanyl, adding that Abdullah may have been exposed to traces of fentanyl at the scene.
On July 20, Deputy Rebekah Smith was patting down a suspect when she started experiencing opioid overdose symptoms.
More than 400 kits of the opioid reversal nasal spray Narcan were supplied to the Richland County Sheriff's Department after two deputies were treated for fentanyl exposure. Caitlin Ashworth/Staff
No fentanyl was found, Lott said, but the suspect had recently taken fentanyl and even helped Smith with her breathing, saying what he does when he has an overdose.
“With fentanyl, you only need a small amount,” Lott said. “We can only guess that he had some on his clothing when she was patting him down, and either she got it by touch, or she got it by being close enough to pat him down that she inhaled it.”
Now, Richland County deputies on patrol all have two doses of Narcan nasal spray. Lott said it's not just for the officers, but to use in the field on anyone experiencing an opioid overdose.
"We're faster than EMS," Lott said.
The state Department of Health and Environmental Control supplies Narcan to 275 law enforcement agencies in South Carolina by request. The Richland County Sheriff’s Department in March received 150 kits, each with two doses and another 425 kits in July following Abdullah’s exposure.
“Now every deputy has Narcan,” Lott said. ”When someone’s OD'ing, life’s a matter of seconds.”
There was a similar case recently in Anderson County.
On July 24, a deputy was confiscating drug paraphernalia as evidence. A spoon found at the scene had a white substance, believed to be heroin laced with fentanyl, according to the department’s public information officer Shale Remien.
The deputy started to feel symptoms after she had cleared the scene. She was in the car when she lost feeling in her hands and she started to feel nauseous. She called for an ambulance. She had difficulty breathing and later was released from the hospital.
Like the cases in Richland County, it's unclear exactly how the Anderson County deputy was exposed.
“That’s one of the mysteries is that we can’t determine exactly how they were exposed,” Lott said. “We just know they were exposed because of the reaction that they had.”
