UD cops save man with anti-drug drug

For the third time in as many months, an Upper Darby cop has saved the life of a man who overdosed on heroin.

In November, the Delaware County District Attorney's Office outfitted all county police departments with doses of the anti-opiate drug, naloxone, which is also known as Narcan. The drug, a nasal spray, is administered through the nose to those in the depths of an opiate overdose.

Upper Darby police took their commitment to carrying the drug one step further by placing it in a plastic container to keep it at the required temperature and by attaching the Narcan kits to the keys of every patrol car so officers will always have it with them, said Upper Darby police Superintendent Michael Chitwood.

Around 2:30 p.m. yesterday, cops responded to a report of a subject down in the basement of a house on Carol Boulevard near Park Avenue. There, an officer found a 29-year-old man barely breathing with a faint pulse and fresh track marks on his arms, Chitwood said.

"After the police gave him the Narcan, he woke up and admitted shooting up before he passed out in the basement," Chitwood said.

Although the man and his girlfriend,who called the police, are both known heroin addicts, neither will face criminal charges, Chitwood said.