San Jose police chief and second-in-command flagged down to help suspected fentanyl victim

San Jose’s top cop and his second-in-command were flagged down this week by a woman reporting that her boyfriend had taken a drug and was not responsive, and an officer is believed to have saved the man’s life, police said.

San Jose Police Department Chief Anthony Mata and Assistant Chief Paul Joseph were in the 500 block of Coleman Avenue when the woman asked them for help Monday just after 12:30 p.m., San Jose police said.

Mata and Joseph called on the radio for officers to respond with lights and sirens on, and for help from San Jose Fire Department paramedics, said San Jose police Officer Steve Aponte. Police said the woman’s boyfriend appeared to be overdosing after ingesting a white powder believed to be fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opiate responsible for much of the overdose epidemic that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says is killing more than 100,000 Americans per year.

The first officer to arrive gave the man two doses of the anti-OD medication naloxone, also known as Narcan, “which effectively saved the man’s life, according to fire personnel that responded and took over medical treatment,” Aponte said.