Wagoner Officers Recognized For Saving People From Fentanyl Overdoses

Three Wagoner Police Officers received life-saving awards for using Narcan to save two people who overdosed on fentanyl.

The Wagoner Police Chief said they are getting fentanyl overdoses every week; sometimes several a week.

Body camera video from the department showed the moment Officer TJ Ponds saved a man's life in January who had overdosed on fentanyl.

“I walked up to the individual, reached down, rolled him over, and as I was rolling him over I observed that he had foam coming from his mouth,” said Officer Ponds.

Officer Ponds said he has had to use Narcan on three or four different people in the last month. In this case, a man overdosed and collapsed on the side of a road and was there for hours before someone found him.

Ponds said in his eight years in law enforcement, he's never seen anything like the impact of fentanyl.

“It is an epidemic. I wouldn't call it just a problem, but an epidemic that is just plaguing our nation. To see it on our home streets is very sad. It is not something that one entity can change,” said Ponds.

Bob Haley has been the Wagoner Police Chief for the last 12 years. He said years ago, meth was the biggest problem and people were overdosing, but surviving.

He said this fentanyl problem is much worse; more people are overdosing and dying.

The city held a meeting for people in the community about fentanyl last October, because officers were starting to see fentanyl on the streets of Wagoner. Now, they are seeing people dying from it.

"We are seeing it and that’s why we are having town meetings and things like that, so that our citizens that have the same process, that 'this is rural America, we aren't going to be seeing this, this is a big city, east coast and west coast thing,' and it's not. It is stuff that's here,” said Haley.

"It doesn't care if you are poor, it doesn't care if you are rich, it doesn't care if you are a politician, it doesn't care if you are a child, it has no boundaries. It doesn't care if you take it or not, you can just touch it, alone will kill you,” said Ponds.

There will be a community meeting Thursday night on the dangers of fentanyl and police urge everyone to come.

It’ll be at the Wagoner Performing Arts Center from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

There will be guest speakers and instruction on how to use Narcan. The three officers will be given Life-Saving Awards at the meeting.