From the Harford County Sheriff’s Office:
At approximately 5:30 pm on Thursday, October 13, 2011, members from the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company and the Harford County Hazardous Materials Response Team responded to the Harford County Detention Center located at 1030 Rock Spring Road in Bel Air, MD for the report of an employee’s exposure to an unknown substance while sorting incoming inmate mail.
The Harford County Detention Center employee indicated to her supervisor that she felt light headed and had a metallic taste in her mouth, after coming in contact with an unknown substance. Her symptoms were consistent with a narcotic exposure. Harford County Detention Center supervisors evacuated and quarantined the area involved, a mail room which is only accessible to staff. At no point were inmates or members of the public in any danger. The involved employee was assessed at the scene by HAZ-MAT and medics before being transported to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center for evaluation as a precautionary measure. As of 9:30 pm this evening she is reported to be in stable condition.
The Harford County Hazardous Materials Response Team sampled the involved area and determined that the substance was not biological in nature; however final results regarding the nature of the substance are still pending. A second contaminated letter was also involved and is believed to be narcotic in nature.
Harford County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigation Division is conducting an investigation. The involved area was cleared by Harford County HAZ-MAT and shortly before 9:00 pm, it was determined that there was no bio-hazard reaction to the employee, so the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene also cleared the site returning control of the involved area back to Harford County Detention Center personnel.
werdna says
I am very interested to hear what this substance is. From the effects described, it sounds more like a hallucinogen than a narcotic. The only drugs I’ve ever known to leave a metallic taste in the mouth was of the hallucinogenic variety. LSD, Mescalin, Extacy, etc……
John P says
Why did she put it in her mouth?
Kharn says
She may have neglected to wear gloves while sorting or properly wash her hands prior to eating, or it may have been absorbed through her skin.
BearTornado says
From what I read in 3 seconds of google searching, it may have Fentanyl. (A pain reliever about 100 times more potent than Morphine. It can be administered through patches that allow you to absorb it through your skin.)
harford voter says
My hat goes off to the men and women who work at the detention center. They have a hard enough job! These people are the truly unsung heros of society.
Brandon says
R U serious? They tied up the HAZ-MAT Crew & Fire Dept. for over 3 hours. What if there was a REAL HAZ-MAT Incident, then what would happen? They’d have to reply “we’re sorry but we’re busy at the jail disposing of a piece of mail that ultimately should have been handled with pair of GLOVES in the 1st place” Would love to see the lab results on that one!!
HarshReality says
Inmates are very skilled at concealing things. Most likely the officer had no idea that she had even handled the substance. The mail is probably checked and sorted by hand one piece at a time. There is no CSI chemical sniffing machine to check the hundreds of letters that get mailed in on a daily basis.
DaveInNOVA says
It could have been the sleeping medication Lunesta. It leaves a metallic taste.