Firefighters Revive Tipton Man Who Apparently Overdosed On Heroin and Crashed on Michigan Avenue

Firefighters used two doses of NARCAN to revive a 30-year-old Tipton man who police believe overdosed on heroin before crashing his vehicle near the four corners in Downtown Saline around 4:20 a.m. Tuesday.

Chief Jerrod Hart said Officer Chris Boulter was on patrol, just starting his shift at 4 a.m., when he spotted taillights near the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Ann Arbor Street. As he drove up the road he saw the vehicle, westbound on Michigan, cross center and hit a bike rack in front of Smokehouse 52.

Officer Boulter couldn't wake up the driver so he called for medical assistance. Saline firefighters were quickly on the scene. Emergency workers noticed a change in the man's breathing and recognized the signs of a heroin overdose, Hart said.

"They hit him with one dose of NARCAN in the vehicle and there was no effect. They removed him from the vehicle and gave him another dose and he came around," Hart said.

Police searched the vehicle and found a syringe and an undisclosed amount of what they suspect was heroin. Hart said the man told police he had no recollection of where he cooked and injected the heroin. The man told police bought the heroin in Detroit.

The man was transported to St. Joseph Hospital in Ann Arbor. Police had his vehicle impounded and are submitting the case to the prosecutor's office for review. Hart said his license was suspended and he had three prior convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

"Fortunately this happened in town. If it happened another mile or two west, out in the fields, there might have been nobody to find him and treat him with NARCAN," Hart said.

Hart said it could also have been worse if there was an eastbound vehicle coming when the man drove off the road.

The bike rack suffered minor damage, Hart said.

(Photo submitted by an area resident)

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