Two civilians, one of whom had rushed in from a nearby tent, swooped in and administered chest compressions and Narcan, the drug that reverses an opioid overdose. Paramedics arrived within minutes and drove the dazed but breathing man into an ambulance.
But this scene was perhaps more notable for what didn’t happen. Five Federal Protective Service officers stand at the man’s feet as civilians desperately try to resuscitate him as he throws his head back on the sidewalk as he convulses from the effects of the medication. was.
“(They) didn’t do anything,” Michael Walker, one of the two who administered Narcan to the man before paramedics arrived, said in an interview the next day from a tent across the street. . “If I hadn’t run there, that boy would have died.”
This inaction, witnessed and documented by Chronicle reporters, explains why police officers deployed to an area with such a drug problem that some federal employees have been advised to work from home are unable to provide basic life support. This raises questions about why no measures were taken.
When asked why he did not intervene, one of the federal officers at the scene said he was not authorized to do so and did not have Narcan with him. However, they helped paramedics secure the victim on a stretcher, and a Federal Protective Service spokeswoman said they called an ambulance.
A spokesperson said in an email that the agency is “making sure our inspectors are equipped with naloxone and trained in how to administer prescription drugs if necessary,” adding that Narcan is not available to the general public. mentioned the name.
A spokesperson said that federal inspectors are trained in CPR and first aid, but that regarding the Sept. 19 overdose, “by the time responding FPS officers arrived, other officers had already performed CPR and first aid.” “Narcan was administered.”
“A total of five officers secured the scene and worked with emergency medical services to ensure the man could be transported,” the spokesperson said.
Employees of local public safety agencies, including San Francisco’s police, fire and sheriff’s offices, have been equipped with Narcan kits for years. The opioid epidemic is poised to cause record deaths this year, and experts say that number would rise exponentially without the Narcan epidemic.
Between January and July of this year, paramedics responded to at least 146 suspected overdoses on the block surrounding the federal building, according to data provided by the San Francisco Fire Department. This data includes responses from both San Francisco EMS and other ambulance companies, but does not include overdoses caused by civilian assistance.
FPS officers have been guarding federal buildings in San Francisco and across the United States for years, but their presence there has grown significantly in recent weeks. Today, the norm is for at least five police cars to line a block, with a dozen police officers patrolling the area.
Federal officials have not publicly commented on the expanded deployment, but one official said the news that officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, one of the building’s tenants, had advised employees to work from home. He said that he had received it. Due to dangerous outdoor conditions.
In an Aug. 4 memo obtained by the Chronicle, Department of Health Assistant Secretary for Administration Cheryl Campbell recommended that building employees “take full advantage of telework for the time being.”
Walker, who helped resuscitate the victim last week and often goes by the nickname Frosty, questioned why the officers didn’t at least perform CPR, even if they weren’t carrying Narcan.
District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who represents the part of the city that includes the building, has asked the director of the city’s Overdose Prevention Office to work with federal authorities if the city needs Narcan supplies or training. He said he took it.
“I don’t know if federal protection officers don’t have that training, but they can learn most things in a matter of minutes,” Dorsey said.
Dorsey last month criticized federal authorities Regarding the recommendation to work from home, federal authorities were praised for stepping up efforts to crack down on problem areas.
“We’re grateful that we’re in a situation where multiple agencies at different levels of government are stepping up their efforts,” he said.
Contact Megan Cassidy: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com. Contact Gabriel Lurie: glurie@sfchronicle.com