Nov 25, 2016 2 min read

A man who overdosed at the Washington County booking center Monday and was revived by deputies has died after overdosing again.

He succumbed Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, said Washington County Commissioner Larry Maggi, who was notified by Sheriff Samuel Romano. The commissioner said he was not told the identity of the victim, who had arrived at the booking center to be fingerprinted Monday as a requirement of his probation.

He turned ashen as he stood at the counter of the booking center in what is now called the Family Court Center, a location many Washington Countians know as the old jail. Staffers eased him into a chair and sought help. No drugs were found on him, but Sheriff Samuel Romano said he suspected the man had used heroin.

Two sheriff’s deputies on duty at the nearby West Cherry Avenue entrance of the courthouse administered four doses of Narcan, said Romano, and the victim was taken to Washington Hospital by paramedics, who also treated him with the antidote to opioids. After his release from the hospital, he again overdosed, this time fatally.

The overdose in the booking center was one of three reported around the county Monday.

A story about the incident, believed to be the first drug overdose by someone inside the Washington County Courthouse complex, touched off a spate of comments on the Observer-Reporter website, most of which had to do with who is footing the bill for first responders administering the antidote.

District Attorney Gene Vittone weighed in via email, writing that he felt it was important to correct a misconception among the public that Narcan is being used at taxpayer expense. The antidote is “being paid for by monies forfeited from drug dealers and through a grant from Highmark to the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association.

“No taxpayer money is being used to finance the first-responder Narcan program.”

There were 73 fatal drug overdoses in Washington County last year.