Cops of the Month save victim from possible drug overdose

It takes two.

A male victim who nearly died of a drug overdose was saved by Police Officers Jorge Santacruz and Daniel McGrath, who received Cop of the Month honors during February’s 72nd Precinct Community Council meeting.

To rescue the man, the two used a Naloxone kit, an antidote recently issued to officers to give them the tools necessary to reverse the effects of an overdose.

“On Saturday, January 17, officers Santacruz and McGrath were on patrol and got flagged down,” said Lieutenant William Meyer during the meeting. “They were told that someone at 53rd Street and Third Avenue was unresponsive and had passed out. The officers went over and ascertained that he might have been the victim of an overdose.

The officers had the kit on them. “A few months ago, NYPD Police Commissioner William Bratton realized that there were a lot of people that were dying of overdoses. He issued these kits for officers to carry,” Meyer said. “It’s basically a needle with which you fill up into a spray bottle and you spray it into the nose of the person.”

Santacruz and McGrath saw the victim, quickly opened the kit and used the antidote. “The person immediately responded,” Meyer reported. “They got him to Lutheran Hospital. While there, the doctor actually said that if they hadn’t reacted quickly enough, the person would’ve died.”

A representative for Assemblymember Felix Ortiz was in attendance and presented the two officers with certificates of merit.

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