Deputy saves teen who OD’d on heroin her 20-year-old boyfriend allegedly watched her inject

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — An Ada County sheriff’s deputy saved the life of a 16-year-old Boise girl who had overdosed on heroin that her 20-year-old boyfriend allegedly watched her inject — the first time the department has used the opioid overdose-reversing treatment since deputies began carrying it in 2017.

Ada County Deputy Jason Piccola, a K-9 officer who carries NARCAN in his patrol car, saved the girl at the scene, around 6 p.m. on Nov. 29. NARCAN, or naloxone, is a heroin overdose antidote that can be administered through a nasal spray.

In a Facebook post Thursday, the sheriff’s office explained that the deputy arrived at a home, near Victory and Cole roads, after a family member found the girl unconscious and called 911.

“When Pioccola arrived, the girl was unresponsive,” the sheriff’s office reported. “She did not appear to be breathing. Her skin was grey. Her lips were turning blue. Family members were with the girl, but 20-year-old Marshall S. Schrick, who helped the girl get the heroin and watched her inject it — but didn’t call 911 when she overdosed — wasn’t there. He took the syringes they used and ran away from the home before Piccola got there.”

The deputy administered two doses of NARCAN to the girl. The first didn’t seem to work, but after the second dose, she began to breathe.

“After a few minutes, she suddenly got up — confused, but alive and conscious,” the sheriff’s office wrote. “Around that time, paramedics arrived and began treating the girl.”

The girl was taken to a hospital, and Schrick was picked up at a local hotel and arrested.

Schrick, of Nampa, is being held at the Ada County Jail on a $280,000 bond. Online court records show he’s been charged with felony injury to a child and felony destruction of evidence.

“Our deputies have responded to dozens of opioid overdose calls this year — some of which involve young adults in their 20s and 30s,” the sheriff’s office wrote. “Some of those calls turn out to be fatal. Some don’t. Adding teenagers to that list in any way is a scary and disturbing development.”

As of Thursday, 105 people have died from drug overdoses in Ada County in 2018, according to the sheriff’s post. Coroner reports show 65 of those deaths were only due to opioids and the other 40 overdose deaths involved a combination of drugs, such as opioids with methamphetamine or cocaine.

All nine of the Ada County Sheriff’s K-9 deputies carry two doses of NARCAN their vehicles. Two doses cost $121, according to the sheriff’s office, and they expire every two years. So if the deputies don’t use the antidote, they will need to be replaced.

Since 2017, the sheriff’s office reported spending nearly $4,000 on NARCAN nasal spray, using money seized in illegal drug cases to supplement the taxpayers’ cost. About half of the cost to the sheriff’s office is covered by the drug money seizures.

The sheriff’s office also keeps doses of NARCAN at the booking and health services areas in the Ada County Jail and in its crime lab. The doses held at the crime lab are there in case employees are accidentally exposed to drugs such as fentanyl.

Schrick’s next court appearance is set for 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 13. This isn’t his first drug charge, and he was on probation at the time of his most recent arrest for a felony drug possession conviction in 2018 in Canyon County.

This article was originally published by the Idaho Statesman. It is used here with permission.