Calgary police say a driver high on opioids caused a series of hit-and-runs that ended with him being revived by officers.
Police received calls Wednesday night that a vehicle was being driven erratically on an expressway, hitting several other vehicles before it eventually crashed.
Insp. Ken Thrower says when officers got to the scene, the driver was unresponsive and was revived with naloxone, a drug used to prevent overdoses from powerful opioids such as fentanyl.
Thrower says it’s not the first time someone behind the wheel of a vehicle has been suspected of opioid use and he hopes it’s not a growing trend.
Alex Forrest, head of the union that represents firefighters in Winnipeg, says his members are occasionally finding motorists pulled over and in cardiac arrest due to suspected opioid use.
Police forces across the country have warned of the growing use of opioids such as fentanyl, a synthetic drug 100 times more powerful than heroin.