‘This thing saved his life’: UCF police officers use Narcan to rescue overdose victim

ORLANDO, Fla. — Two officers with the University of Central Florida’s Police Department used CPR training and two doses of Narcan to rescue a man from a drug overdose Monday.

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The officers responded to the intersection of Gemini and University Blvds. just before midnight for a report of a person overdosing on Oxycodone.

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Body camera video released by UCF Police shows the officers arriving to find the man completely unresponsive on the sidewalk.

One officer immediately administered a dose of the emergency overdose drug Narcan. According to an incident report, the man began gasping for air but quickly became unresponsive again.

After a minute of CPR and a second dose of Narcan, police say the man’s eyes began to open and he began to breathe normally.

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According to the report, the man- who was not a UCF student- fully regained consciousness shortly after Seminole County Rescue crews arrived on scene.

In the body camera video, one officer can be heard explaining to the man’s friends what to do in that situation.

“He probably would have died if you’d have taken him to the hospital,” the officer said. “This thing right here saved his life.”

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The officer was referring to Narcan, which each of them has carried since 2015.

Just this fall, Narcan became available for free at the UCF Pharmacy for students, faculty, and staff with no questions asked.

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Cox Media Group