Naperville police use heroin antidote to save 17-year-old

Newly trained Naperville police officers saved a 17-year-old girl's life last weekend when they used a drug that reverses the effects of a heroin overdose for the first time.

The two patrol officers who responded when the girl's friend called to report she was unconscious are being credited with saving the teen using a nasal spray version of a drug called Narcan or Naloxone.

The officers, Jason Duffy and Jeremy Womack, had been trained to administer the drug only days before having to use it, Sgt. Bill Davis said Thursday.

The officers were called about 10:25 p.m. Jan. 23 to an apartment on the 700 block of Benedetti Drive, where they found the 17-year-old unconscious in a bedroom and overdosing on heroin, Davis said.

The Lisle resident regained consciousness after one of the officers gave her a nasal dose of Narcan. Naperville paramedics then arrived and took the girl to Edward Hospital.

The girl will not be charged with any offenses related to her overdose, Davis said.

The save was one of 36 in DuPage County since a program to train police officers on how to use the drug began in November 2013.

DuPage County Coroner Rich Jorgensen said nearly 2,000 officers in the county have been trained to use Narcan and issued doses of the drug to carry with them. In Naperville, training began recently and reached the officers who saved the girl's life only days before they needed it.

"These were patrol officers who had just been trained in the last week," Davis said.

Duffy and Womack will be honored for their lifesaving actions before the next Naperville City Council meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3, in the municipal center at 400 S. Eagle St.

Davis said 20 more patrol officers still need to learn the proper technique for administering Narcan, and they are scheduled to be trained within the next two weeks.